“Think of tomorrow, the past can’t be mended.” – Confucius
I have been researching famous quotes and love this one for B2B digital transformation. Digital marketers and revenue-generating roles have been moving quickly toward the future, especially over the past two years. Many marketers, however, have experienced challenges and setbacks along the way.
What does digital transformation mean for B2B marketing?
Digital transformation is the ultimate “means everything and anything” terminology, so before we go any further let’s break it down.
Here at BDO Digital, we define digital transformation as everything that links the customer experience (CX) together along the buyer’s journey. Once you’ve identified where you are on your digital transformation journey, our D3 Methodology can help you establish and prioritize the key demand generation initiatives that will maximize revenue growth in the shortest amount of time.
So, how are B2B marketers actually doing?
“Progressing nicely.”
That is generally my answer when I am asked — after 6 years of advising B2B marketers on digital marketing strategies and best practices — how B2B marketing is doing with digital transformation.
There are many things marketers are doing well, but there is still some work to be done. While we can’t mend the past, as Confucius points out, we can still learn from it. So, let’s give a quick review of what we have been doing well (the past) and what needs improvement (the future):
Digital Transformation: 5 Things B2B Marketing is Doing Well or Needs Improvement
Doing Well: Sound demand, lead, and revenue management Demand funnels are finally maturing and marketers are adapting to incorporate the account lifecyle. Reporting is robust around common demand metrics and revenue impact. I am getting more optimistic about how individuals are utilizing data to improve revenue generation and the customer experience. Needs Improvement: Account-based strategies and execution Many marketers have an “ABM”-like strategy, but most cannot tell you what they have learned and how it’s changed how they do business. Doing Well: Building teams of interdisciplinary experts Marketing organizations have become more sophisticated, especially with respect to job roles and functions. Ten years ago, there were very few demand gen roles. Today, there are entire demand generation departments with ops, campaign, and reporting chops. Needs Improvement: Retaining talent and knowledge management Even before the Great Resignation, managing talent and the collective knowledge base was a challenge for B2B marketers. Automation, process, and technology have not prevented brain drain; every week, we hear, “Well, Martha/June/Gigi/Frank/Harry knows how that works, but they left the company two weeks ago.” Doing Well: Building a broad array of customer touchpoints From a digital transformation standpoint, companies have made an incredible effort to provide relevant engagement opportunities wherever the prospect/customer is. In addition to having a presence on multiple company websites, social, and advertising (search/display/content), marketers have also done a great job of providing multiple options for engagement (e.g., download, chat, call, email, fill out a form, etc.). Needs Improvement: Making customer experience frictionless Unfortunately, this proliferation of channels often brings with it multiple applications, layers, landing pages, mobile, and so forth. Data exchange often does not happen seamlessly, and the customer experience is not ideal. I believe this to be one of the singular most important focus areas for B2B marketers. Doing Well: Investing in and testing new channels, technologies, and initiatives Marketing has procured quite a bit of technology over the last few years. At first, it was a little reckless, but over the last two years I have seen an increased focus on testing and quickly determining if a channel or new point solution is going to grow the business. Needs Improvement: Fully leveraging technology investments/integrations Technology does not equal digital transformation; in fact, it’s caused its own set of challenges with integrations and data. What I would like to see is more effort to fully leverage the power of existing investments. I continue to see marketers with best-of-breed platforms and tools underuse their abilities. Doing Well: Reporting on marketing activities and revenue impact After many years of looking for the perfect KPI/visualization/dashboard solution, B2B marketers are more comfortable telling stories from multiple data sources, continuing to be curious and becoming better data storytellers along the way. Needs Improvement: Using data for strategic purposes — via AI and analytics — to drive business decisions and automated tasks Data is a mess. My recommendation to my clients is an honest assessment of whether you can meet your business objectives with your current state of customer data. There needs to be a fundamental focus on data quality and utility. AI use cases around marketing and the customer experience continue to expand. Big opportunities here. In thinking about tomorrow, I see many B2B marketing organizations thriving in a digital age. Investment continues to be at an all-time high for digital transformation — our latest research on the topic will be coming out soon. I can say, anecdotally, that I see a lot of interest in customer/account marketing strategies with a heavy focus on CX. I also see interest — and this goes beyond the CMO’s purview — in artificial intelligence across the business, including sales and marketing touchpoints. Where are you currently doing well? Where do you think “Needs Improvement” applies to teams across your organization? Interested in some pointers to help you drive transformation within your organization, from assessing current gaps and opportunities to defining and implementing new programs and strategies? Download our 10-Step Playbook to Digital Transformation. The post Digital Transformation: How Is B2B Marketing Doing? appeared first on DemandGen.2. People
3. Customer Experience
4. MarTech
5. Data and Analytics
Looking ahead
Will Waugh is a consultant for BDO Digital focused on helping clients with demand generation, lead management and leveraging marketing technology. He genuinely believes that data can change the world. Follow him on on Twitter. Other articles by Will Waugh: 7 Essential Marketing Technology Categories: How’s Your Stack Looking?
