B2B Marketing has changed in 2024! Or has it?

Ask any B2B marketer if Intent Data and Generative AI have influenced their area of work, and the answer usually is a 'yes' followed by a quick 'not there yet, though!'  A FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) on the AI wave is sweeping all industries and business departments. But is that true? Is it safe to embrace these new technologies and bet a reasonable portion of your marketing budget on them?

Historically, B2B sales and marketing have always been complex. The buying process involved teams rather than individual decision-makers, growing from 3-4 members in 2012 to nearly 8-9 in 2023*. The introduction of web platforms, mobile applications, and a sophisticated MarTech stack has simplified and complicated the buying experience. While these tools are unique and powerful in their way, they often solve a specific point of the buyer's journey very well. They don't integrate easily with other MarTech solutions that solve specific problems in different parts of the Customer Journey. Thus, B2B Marketing Operations teams are left to continuously fix the plumbing between such systems to ensure that information flows, if not freely, adequately. The unintended consequence of such friction between systems is that it breaks the customer's buying experience, often leaving them feeling overwhelmed.

The Constancy in Buyer Motivation

Despite technological evolution, buyers' fundamental motivations remain unchanged. Businesses continue to purchase solutions that address specific problems. The overeagerness of marketing technologies to track, trace, and understand customer behavior has led to a natural shift in buyers adopting a more digital and stealthy approach. About a decade ago, in 2012-14, research established that 57% of buyers stay in stealth mode before contacting a product or service vendor. That number has climbed to over 80% post-pandemic. The implications for marketers are clear: understanding and adapting to these digital buying behaviors is crucial.

The fusion of Intent Data and Generative AI represents a significant shift in how marketers approach their strategies. Intent data provides insights into prospective buyers' interests and readiness to purchase, which, when combined with AI, can predict buying behaviors and personalize marketing efforts at scale. These technologies and their providers predict a significant uplift in revenue impact for every dollar spent on them.

However, these advanced tools should not distract from the essence of marketing—creating meaningful connections and guiding buyers through their journeys.

Keeping Buyer Experience at the Core

As technology evolves, the buyer experience should remain the north star that guides adopting new-age marketing strategies or technologies. Creating a consistent, predictable, seamless, simple experience that resonates with buyers across various digital platforms is the primary checklist for any B2B Marketing Model changes.

Simplifying the buyer's journey, providing consistent messaging, and ensuring that every interaction adds value is crucial to maintaining buyer engagement and trust. When the focus is on the customer and serving them what they want, will ensure that technology adoption serves a sound marketing sense.

You cannot stalk the buyer; frankly, it doesn't matter.

While designing these customer journeys, it is essential to recognize that laws favor stealth buyers who want to reveal themselves only when they are ready.

For the B2B marketer, it does not really matter if you are focused on providing meaningful customer journeys, irrespective of whether you know who the customer is or not.

"The authentic intent to give what the customer wants is what will solve the revenue problem for you, not some new age technology!"

So, what can Intent Data & Gen-AI be beneficial for?

Intent Data and its meaningful aggregation into usable intelligence is beneficial to marketing team members who run their campaigns and sales team members who need help prioritizing their target accounts.

While platforms and technologies can help you surface qualified accounts that are in the market for your solutions, using that intel to show the customer that you know what they want because you are digitally stalking them will only prove counterproductive to a sale rather than being a catalyst.

Intent Data helps marketing teams target better and get 'more done with less', and it gives sellers the confidence to spend their scarce time and sales energy on the correct accounts that convert.

We must remember that Gen-AI for marketing is still nascent today. It offers great promise, especially in targeted personalization, predictive analytics, and automated workflows. However, the key to remember is that they are offered by the same vendors who solve specific parts of the customer's journey. Until AI evolves to give marketers the power to orchestrate an entire customer journey with consistency and clarity, we will only use it to solve specific problems. An immediate use case, however, may be seen in the area of content! B2B Marketing always needs many content assets and meaningful digital experiences, all of which are powered by content marketing teams trying to keep pace. Gen-AI tools can help improve the productivity of getting original content out to the market if used effectively.

The Role of Detailed Planning and Execution

Every touchpoint and interaction counts in the detailed orchestration of B2B marketing. Detailed, buyer-centric planning that addresses specific stages of the buyer's journey is critical. Marketers need to leverage intent data and AI not just to predict behaviors but also to tailor interactions that meet the nuanced needs of each buyer.

Avoiding the Overuse of Technologies

While continually adopting new technologies is tempting, effective marketing only partially depends on the most advanced tools available. The overaccumulation of technologies can lead to feature overlap and confusion. Instead, marketers should focus on consolidating their tech stacks to enhance efficiency and reduce complexity.

Prototyping, Testing, and Adapting

Agile methodologies have become essential in marketing. Marketers can quickly learn what resonates with their audience by rapidly prototyping and testing different approaches. This iterative process allows for refinements based on real-time feedback, ensuring that strategies are continually aligned with buyer expectations.

Balancing Data with Human Insight

While data is a powerful tool in understanding buyer behavior, human insight often drives the most impactful marketing decisions. As AI and machine learning provide more predictive capabilities, the human element in interpreting and applying these insights becomes even more crucial.

As B2B marketing continues to evolve, guided by intent data and AI, remembering these foundational principles is vital. Marketers must balance advanced technologies with the core elements of good marketing practice—understanding the buyer, providing valuable experiences, and maintaining human insight. By adhering to these principles, marketers can navigate the complexities of modern B2B marketing and drive meaningful engagement and growth - with or without Intent Data, with or without Gen-AI!