B2B marketing has been improving slowly and steadily for the past years. However, a sudden change was bound to happen when the pandemic struck with its far-reaching consequences. Customer expectations have skyrocketed to completely new levels. This has resulted in a need for change in the B2B marketing world.
Companies now need a systematic way to match customers’ expectations. This is where a need for growth marketing comes into the picture. In this blog, we will dive into the three most prominent reasons why your B2B company needs growth marketing.
B2B customer journeys are complicated
A typical B2B customer journey is far from predictable or linear – on the contrary, it is complex and long. It usually takes around six months to complete a purchase. Depending on the product, it may even take years.
On this journey, there are on average seven people on board which means hundreds of interactions between those involved. Some of these people control the budget, some may influence the decision, while others might be the end users of your product.
How can you help the customer on their buying journey then? A good marketer must reach all the different decision-makers at the right moment and with the right message. You need to help the customer navigate the buying process by creating touchpoints with valuable content. Keeping the process moving is what eventually results in closing a sale. To achieve this, your company needs growth marketing. So, validate your buyer personas and messages by systematically testing every part of the customer journey with growth marketing experiments.
The complexity of the buying journey makes purchasing difficult for the customer. Adding to the difficulty, there are jobs your customer has to complete before they can buy from you. These are known as Jobs To Be Done, and are one of the key factors behind successful B2B marketing.
B2B buying is as hard as selling
There are six specific Jobs To Be Done for your customer before they can make a purchase;
- Problem identification. “We need to do something.”
- Solution exploration. “What’s out there to solve our problem?”
- Requirements building. “What do we need the purchase to do?”
- Supplier selection. “Does this do what we want it to do?”
- Validation. “We think we know the answer, but we need to be sure.”
- Consensus creation. “We need to get everyone on board.”
However, if one of these jobs is not completed or not enough information is provided for the customer to complete said jobs, they cannot buy from you. Growth marketing helps you solve this issue.
The secret of B2B growth marketing boils down to identifying and acknowledging these jobs. Then you, as a marketer, can refine your marketing efforts so that they provide an answer to the client’s needs. Great marketing can engage with the people who hold sway over the decision to buy and convince them. It also provides added value: Gartner’s research shows that a B2B client is three times more likely to choose a deal when given help along their journey. So gathering from that, you should test your content by using growth marketing tactics. Then your customers can get enough information on their journey.
B2B buyers expect more from your marketing
Over 80 percent of B2B buyers want personalized marketing in the channels they are using. But companies often have misconceptions about where their B2B buyers interact on the web. As a result, they don’t advertise in the channels that their buyers use.
In reality, B2B buyers are ordinary people who want to be reached like anyone else: right where they are spending their time online. They wish to interact with you in real time just like B2C customers.
What once was a clear line between B2B and B2C buyers, is no longer there. B2B buyers are the exact same people as B2C consumers.
In fact, those B2C services that your B2B buyers are using in their day-to-day lives have set the bar incredibly high. In B2C settings, everything is personalized and instant, which is what B2B buyers long for as well: having their high expectations met.
But how do you get there? With growth marketing!
B2B companies usually approach marketing from a campaign perspective. They plan campaigns in the beginning of each quarter, put a lot of resources into them, and then…just wait. They cross their fingers and hope that everything works out in the end. As you can imagine, this is the wrong way to go.
Instead of putting all the eggs in one basket, B2B Growth Marketing relies on constant experimentation to find the right strategy. Growth marketers test different approaches, learn quickly, and rely on data to show them what works.
Build a culture of systematic marketing experiments in your B2B company. Validate your buyer personas and journeys. Test different marketing channels and value propositions. Check what’s the best way to nurture your leads. See how to add more value to your audience. All of it based on data, not opinions.
Your B2B company needs growth marketing because B2B buying journeys are complicated, B2B buying is hard and B2B buyers expect more from your marketing. Growth marketing with its systematic marketing experiments help you see where your customers’ expectations truly lie. And if the expectations change, the same experiment process will help you find the right approach again. This will eventually result in better performance and increased revenue for your B2B company.
Want to start running systematic experiments, and turn marketing into a revenue driver? Contact us!