Last week, I attended a luncheon with other marketing and revenue leaders. With an eye toward recent layoffs in the tech sector, the topic of discussion was the looming recession of 2022.

For some of us who lived through the downturns of 2001 and 2008, we surmised that companies would follow a similar strategy, scale back non-strategic investments, and temporarily freeze hiring. During the past two downturns, companies still funded strategic projects. For these deals, the buying process expanded and required additional approvals from key buying committee members and the executive team.

Let’s fast-forward to today: The buying groups of 2022 have little resemblance to their simpler counterparts of 2001 and 2008. B2B vendors (including myself) reading the tea leaves are uncertain how this scenario will ultimately play out.

Will the complex and expanding role of B2B buying groups in a digital-first marketplace help or hurt growth? The answer to this question — and potential solutions — requires a quick history lesson.

With COVID-19 and the cancellation of in-person events, buyers relied upon more digital and self-service channels in their decision journey. They were comfortable purchasing a $1m solution without talking to a sales rep. In its wake, this trend has created a recipe for decision-making chaos. Specifically:

• More digital channels: 10+ channels. And, don’t forget that buyers expect you to know and remember everything as they jump across channels.
• More decision-makers: Between 14–23 individuals depending upon the size of the deal. Naturally, the more people involved in a deal creates internal friction and perceived risk and exposure. Sometimes a “no decision” disposition is the best outcome for a company — but not the best disposition for a seller.
• More interactions: In Forrester’s 2021 B2B Buying Survey, over 80% of purchases include complex buying groups, with a significant increase in journey interactions, from 17 in 2019 to 27 in 2021. As more interactions pile up across countless decision-makers, a deal will often reset at the starting line again. Unfortunately, sellers will have no idea how their deal went sideways, resembling an episode of Groundhog Day movie.

To survive and thrive in 2022, B2B marketers must intimately know their buyers and buying groups.

If we’ve learned anything from the past three years is that B2B marketing teams proficient in ABM, personalization, and the expanded universe of digital channels all exited the pandemic unscathed. Some even thrived:

• 72% of B2B companies that sold across seven or more channels grew faster than their peers
• Companies that offered tailored outreach and 1:1 personalization were 1.7X more likely to have gained market share.
• Other companies generated 10% more top-line growth.

Winter is Coming

What can you do today to prepare for a challenging 2H, 2022? How can you truly meet buyers where they are and give them what they want in a virtual world comprised of many digital channels?

1. Focus on buying groups and delivering value: For years, we’ve all expounded the positive virtues of “personalization” and “delivering an exceptional buying experience.” Often lost in this hyperbole, B2B marketers forget the obvious: Buyers have a job to do. As such, take the time to understand their role, personas, requirements, decision criteria, and process. Please don’t send them another irrelevant white paper. Buyers don’t care if you personalize the homepage header or email subject line. Above all else, help make their lives easier to make the right decision with confidence.
2. Don’t stop training your ABM muscle: Your ABM program is the foundation for successfully engaging buyers in a complex and sometimes chaotic marketplace. Successfully targeting and engaging buying groups becomes easier if you apply ABM fundamentals, including ICP, segmentation, account tiers, content mapping, metrics, and martech stack. At the same time, this process will inform where you need to realign your marketing team around a common operating model.
3. Content and data are two peas in a pod — harness their power: Content is the rocket fuel for any buyer-centric ABM program. Why? Behavioral data and intelligence are byproducts of buyers engaging with your content. It’s incumbent upon marketers to translate these intent-based buying signals into the right content, contextual messaging, and the next-best action that advances buyers forward. Finally, in a cookieless world, B2B marketers must become self-reliant on their first-party data and behavioral insights to inform content creation and decision journeys.
4. Focus on progress, not perfection: Finally, building a better buyer journey is indeed a journey for every B2B marketer. The next era of B2B marketing will be both precise and complex. Success will require a mix of perseverance, planning, and people. Rome was not built in a day. Continue the process of maturing your ABM program, eliminating organizational and data silos, and creating a buyer-centric culture that becomes second nature across your marketing and revenue teams. For marketing teams late to the ABM party, there is still time to catch up! Just don’t stop — and always keep moving forward.

Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the blog owner and do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity, unless explicitly stated.