The past three years have brought more change and disruption to B2B marketers than the past three decades combined. With the rapid shift to digital, one would expect the modern B2B marketing function to become more certain and predictable. The reality is that certainty is never a given, especially today.
What’s certain is that the linear, lead-centric, and top-of-the-funnel GTM is now obsolete. Last year also served as a reminder that hypergrowth marketing and prioritizing growth at all costs is not a viable strategy. Marketers now find themselves at a crossroads to lead the growth agenda. Why? Only marketing can speak the digital language of data-driven personalized experiences that today’s B2B buyers crave.
As marketing-led growth becomes the dominant GTM – often without an official mandate – marketing teams must address several ambiguous questions:
- What’s my scope of responsibility? Top of the funnel? Buyer journey? Customer lifecycle? All of the above?
- Where does marketing stop and sales take over?
- How do I simultaneously deliver short-term pipeline and sustainable and profitable growth?
- How do I do more with less?
The Future of Marketing-Led Growth: Some Assembly Required
With uncertainty comes opportunity. Today, most B2B marketers are still perceived as a cost center that can’t deliver enough leads for the sales team, with 78 percent of companies still using lead conversions as a core performance metric. As B2B marketers lead the growth agenda, they have a prime opportunity to reimagine their strategic purpose and clearly define their destiny:
- Adapt and embrace the change: Marketers are no strangers to chaos. We must lean into this discomfort while tapping into our data-driven strengths and new AI tools to bring more certainty, confidence, and impact to accelerating growth and revenue.
- Set a bold vision: Marketing’s remit is evolving from the top slice of a funnel to encompassing the entire buyer journey and customer lifecycle. Now is not the time to think small and embrace half-measures.
- Act now: Marketing has a small window of opportunity to transform whitespace into a strategic role that leads growth. If we don’t act decisively, others will define marketing’s role on our behalf, and we may not like the outcome.
For the past year, I’ve explored and written a B2B marketing book on this very subject. Entitled “Some Assembly Required,” the book includes expert interviews and practical strategies for B2B marketers as they embrace their new growth mandate. I’m excited to announce that the book will be published in February/March.
To learn more and sign up to be notified when the book is published, go to www.adaptiveB2B.com.
