The New Role of Marketing in Business-to-

Business (B2B) Companies

The role of marketing is growing for B2B companies

Background – Why has selling and buying changed?

Reduced friction for buyers (easier to find the skills you need) Easier access to niches for sellers (easier to market to small groups)

A New Generation of Buyers

More informed

More connected

More impatient

More Autonomous

More overloaded

More risk averse

More abundant

Buyer witha problem

Seller / trusted advisor with

solutions to offer

Goes online to research solutions Seller has less

opportunity to give sales pitches

Because buyer behavior has changed, marketing is becoming more relevant for B2B companies

Buyer selects vendors to consider

| 4

Marketing matters to get on the radar

Buyer with a problem TRADITIONAL PURCHASING

PROCESS

NEW PURCHASING PROCESS

55 – 90% of purchase process is

complete before buyer

reaches out to sales

There are 3 implications of the new buyer

1.New pipeline – the sales process has a lot of twists, turns and loops

2.New sales team skills – the old canned approach doesn’t work

3.The growing role of marketing

The sales processOld Funnel - and new reality

New structure full of twists and ‘bounces’ - pinball machine

Sales team skills

1.Buyers are experts – so sales people have to be MORE expert.

- - Experience, expertise and calibration needed- - Canned approaches don’t work well

Marketing has a growing role in revenue generation

The first 57% is marketing

The remaining

43% is sales & marketing

How do you get marketing to work in a B2B company?

3 lessons from

Lesson 1

Provide Support from the Top

Provide Support From The Top• If you don’t, marketing is not likely to succeed in mid-market B2B

companies • Lots of skepticism and lack of experience – requires senior buy-in to

overcome• How to provide that support:

1. Commit to a marketing budget for year one2. Provide leadership time for marketing (weekly meeting with

marketing leader for first 3 - 4 months)3. Put marketing leader on the executive committee4. CEOs should own marketing initiatives internally

Lesson 2

Marketing is not the Art Department

Marketing is not the Art Department• Most people in B2B think marketing = ‘what color is the logo’ • Marketers have to dispel this myth hard and fast • Marketing is about driving profitable revenue. It’s

a combination of quantitative (financial and data) skills and and qualitative (creativity and communications)

• Marketers should talk about ROI• Your lead marketer should not be

‘the brochure lady’

Lesson 3

Have Realistic Expectations

Have Realistic Expectations• Everyone thinks marketing is easy, that anyone can do it, and that

results will happen in a month or two • Because the purchasing cycle in B2B is long, marketing takes time to

have an impact. It isn’t a 3 or 6 month project. • Reality: 6 – 12 months to see pipeline

growth (depending on the buy cycle), and real impact is in years 2 and 3

The Radical Sales Shift

Available on

or from The Mezzanine Group (www.themezzaninegroup.com)