Last week Forrester SiriusDecisions hosted its Summit 2020, a 100% virtual event that has historically taken place in Austin, TX. But as George Colony, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Forrester Research rightly said in his opening remarks, “we may be sitting at home, but we can’t sit still.”
A primary focus of the conference was strategies to optimize the operation and execution of B2B marketing. In a new report on the future of B2B buying announced during the Summit called “What B2B Buyers Crave”, Forrester calls out a few major trends forcing B2B marketers to find new ways to deliver higher levels of performance.
First, B2B buyers feel more empowered than ever by the information now freely available. Next, there is a new set of younger millennial buyers who are suspicious of the traditional sales process and much more trusting of peer reviews. Lastly, these individuals are more interested in a digital path to purchase, one of the many trends that are accelerated in this pandemic.
In fact, many industry leaders are acknowledging that what was going to happen eventually is now just happening faster. This acceleration means that whether you sell insurance or enterprise software, with more than 40% of all B2B purchases made online today. Marketing must more efficiently generate qualified leads at lower costs to drive revenue. Forrester recommends a lifetime value (LTV) to customer acquisition cost (CAC) ratio of 3:1, meaning that for every dollar invested in earning a new customer, companies should earn $3 in profit over the length of the client relationship.
The heightened standards and focus on addressability strongly encourage B2B marketers to explore ways to dramatically change how they operate to reach target audiences. In a session titled, “The Foundations of Demand and Account-Based Marketing (ABM),” Principal Analyst John Arnold points out that demand marketing and ABM are coming together faster than ever. Marketers need to use the strategy of maximizing quality while minimizing waste; achieving the right mix of demand marketing and ABM to reach customers is the best way to grow your business. He says, “while ABM requires a different type of effort, the overall value of the sale makes specialized effort worthwhile.”
As part of our session, LiveRamp B2B demonstrated how a centralized and holistic ABM approach can make a dramatic difference to improving ROI. LiveRamp’s Pieter De Temmerman and Rene Asis presented a compelling case study showing how client Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) was able to halve their cost per MQL, improve measurement and sharpen their ABM strategy for growth.
One of the benefits of omnichannel ABM activation means you can tie the actions of unknown individuals to accounts. This can be done across devices and across digital channels, including search, programmatic, and even TV. A holistic account view enables you to recognize leads sooner, optimize spend across channels to drive efficiencies, equip your sales team with the right leads, and ultimately prove the ROI of marketing. And, more insights allow you to better understand your customer’s needs and challenges and even start to reimagine the buyer’s journey in an omnichannel way.
This is an ideal moment for B2B marketers to reimagine the customer journey and lifecycle and personalize every interaction to show how your company can deliver what the buyer needs when they want it.
If you are a B2B marketer, learn more about how LiveRamp B2B can help your company succeed, not only in the weeks and months to come, but build growth years into the future. Contact us today for more information.