How Should B2B Marketers Shift Their Thinking?

Stakes are high, growth is paramount, and “doing more with less” is reality. Marketers are carefully balancing strategy and speed to keep up with the pace of the businesses they operate. AI and technology are amplifying expectations of the “ideal” buying experience. Among this chaos (that’s a fair description I think) it can be easy to lose focus. It's time to embrace the complexity.

Topics like “brand vs. demand” and “the role of emotion in creativity” or “the impact of AI on (insert any function of marketing and advertising)” are capturing our attention and could distract us from the aspects of our marketing efforts that drive growth, the commercial aspects. Take the “brand vs. demand” debate. Is that a topic worth debating when we all know the integration of the two into a seamless buying experience is what generates growth?

B2B businesses are complex and involve highly considered purchases. The extended evaluation cycle demands many orchestrated touch points. “Buying” requires engagement with sales teams and distribution partners that have their own segmentation based on vertical expertise, account ownership and territory mapping – who also need to be enabled to make positive brand impressions daily. Content must support the evaluation process of a buying group that ranges in perspectives from engineering to product, to finance – and explain the impact of complex concepts like adaptive load management, torsion control, etc. Campaigns have funnel stages and while the process of moving from one to the next is not linear, they were created in part to remind us of the jobs we have to do as B2B marketers to close a sale (unlike some of our consumer counterparts). It is this complexity that deserves our attention and where growth lies. It is this complexity that needs to be embraced now more than ever.

So if you are growth minded, get “commercial” quickly. If you’re going to track MQLs, make sure you understand the impact of marketing on the organization’s overall growth strategy. Do not get caught up in the label of tactics and initiatives as “brand,” “demand,” “ABM” or other, and instead lead the team to the ideal buying experience.

If the customer doesn’t think of sales, service and marketing as independent offerings, you shouldn’t either – they are just aspects of the experience that make up the perception of your brand. Most of all, ensure your agencies embrace the complexity and commercial aspect of B2B marketing with the same level of excitement you and your team do, operating as an extension of your team – as a true B2B growth partner.

It’s this commercial focus that will get us back to growth.

 

Article featured in the 2025 B2B Marketing US Agencies Benchmarking Report.