This is part 1 of a two-part article on the B2B journey and how recent research has led to a redesign of the B2B marketing model around engaging Buying Groups rather than focusing on leads. We covered this topic in depth in the most recent episode of our podcast.
Listen to the Episode
Kerry Cunningham, B2B Marketing Superstar
In the latest episode of the Healthtech Marketing Show, my colleague Mark Erwich and I speak with one of my all-time B2B marketing heroes, Kerry Cunningham. Kerry heads up research and 6Sense and has an accomplished career studying and creating breakthrough research in B2B.
His work is based on deep insights about the B2B Buying process and his recent research on the B2B blew my mind.
Mark Erwich is no slouch either, and we are very lucky that he joined us recently as a principal at Health Launchpad. Prior to joining us Mark led marketing at Verato and Imprivata. He is a real marketing scientist.
So, what did the research say?
BUYERS WILL CALL YOU WHEN THEY ARE GOOD AND READY
Much of what we covered in the episode is based on research 6Sense published late last year. Here is a summary of some of the most important findings:
- B2B buying cycles average around 11 months and involve about ten stakeholders.
- Buyers typically reach out to sellers when they’re 70% through their buying journey
- 84% of buyers select the first firm they contact. Why? Because they have made their mind up based on the research they have conducted independently and before speaking with the buyer.
In my view, this last statistic is earth-shattering with a simple conclusion.
As marketers, this means we have two questions to answer:
- Who is in-market right now?
- How do we position ourselves to be top of their list?
If we do that well, we will gain more than our fair share of in-market buyers and more effectively generate sales-ready opportunities.
Marketing Matters More Than Ever
So, if buyers spend 70% of the 11+ months in their journey AVOIDING your salespeople (and they say they are, according to the research), it’s up to marketing to find them, engage them, and persuade them.
Your digital presence and the content you provide throughout their journey can help your company achieve its revenue goals.
If you have been in B2B marketing for a while, this will be something you are already well-versed in. However, there are several areas where you may need to refocus:
- Changing your focus from generating leads to engaging active buying groups.
- Shifting how you measure what you do from quantity of results to quality.
- Being able to identify who may be in-market.
Individual Leads are No Longer Effective Indicators
As an industry, we have historically focused on generating individual leads. The problem is that single leads often don’t tell you much. A single lead does not represent the full buying group or necessarily indicate genuine intent.
Success in B2B sales requires engaging with multiple decision-makers and influencers. This means developing strategies to identify and connect with multiple stakeholders within the same account.
Companies that do this well use data and analytics to map out typical buying group structures for your ideal customers. They map these in their CRMs and track how they engage multiple stakeholders within an organization.
They also tailor content and outreach approaches to address the concerns and priorities of different roles within the buying group.
The Shift from Quantity to Quality
As we have covered in prior articles, there is a shift in healthtech, as there is in other B2B sectors, from measuring lead volume to opportunity quality.
In fact, traditional metrics like Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) and lead volume can be misleading. The challenge is to develop metrics that indicate genuine buying intent and engagement quality.
This results in focusing a few high opportunities intensely rather than following-up to qualify large volumes of marketing leads.
The best practice is to develop criteria for quality engagement, such as depth of content consumption, multi-stakeholder involvement, or specific high-value actions. These criteria will guide your marketing efforts and measurement.
Over time, you will want to study successful deals’ behavior to identify engagement and content consumption patterns. You can use these insights to shape your marketing strategies and prioritize efforts that align with buying behaviors.
Leveraging Anonymous Traffic and Third-Party Intent Data
The third skill to master is identifying potential in-market customers. This involves handling anonymous traffic on your website and using third-party intent data.
Anonymous traffic can provide valuable signals about account interest and buying intent. Many tools can help you unmask and analyze this traffic at the account level, which will inform your targeting and engagement strategies.
Third-party intent data can help identify accounts showing interest in your solutions before they reach your website. Experiment with this data to develop a candidate list of potentially in-market accounts. Then, prioritize outreach and tailor messaging to their specific interests.
For smaller brands with lower awareness, third-party intent data may be even more important, as it is less likely that buyers will visit your website. Larger brands benefit from more traffic, so it makes more sense for them to focus more on first-party data.
Crafting an Effective B2B Content Strategy
Kerry had some specific recommendations to share.
- Make content easily accessible and ungated: Consider reducing form fills and gates to make valuable content more accessible. This can increase content consumption and engagement early in the buyer’s journey.
- Align content with different stages of the buyer journey: Create a diverse content portfolio that addresses questions and concerns at each stage of the buying process. Ensure you have appropriate content for awareness, consideration, and decision stages.
- Monitor content consumption patterns for insights: Analyze how buyers interact with your content to gain insights into their interests and stage in the buying process. Use these insights to refine your content strategy and identify potential buying signals.
Coming Next
In part 2 of this article, we will cover “next level” issues related to these topics:
- Overcoming ABM Measurement Challenges
- Rethinking Lead Conversion Metrics
- Implementing the Demand Unit Waterfall
- Aligning Sales and Marketing for Success
- The Evolving Role of Gated Content in B2B Marketing
If you liked this post and want to learn more…
- Check out more posts like this in the Healthtech MarketingLearning Center. It is chock-full of articles, use cases, how-to’s, and ideas. Check out our resource center dedicated to the Buyer Journey.
- Follow me or connect with me on LinkedIn. I publish videos and articles on ABM and healthtech marketing.
- See what other healthcare technology marketers are doing. Check out the State of ABM in Healthcare Technology.
- Buy Total Customer Growth: Our book on how to win and grow customers for life with ABM and ABX.
- Work with me directly. Let’s book a growth session and we can explore ways you can improve your marketing using the latest techniques in account-based marketing.