Produce more, but with less budget and fewer resources. That’s the challenge digital marketers face. Sure, technology helps, but even with the latest and greatest tech stack, it’s hard to gain traction and drive momentum when you need to do so much with so little.
But building momentum on a budget isn’t impossible. That’s why we held MOMENTUM ‘22 — a summit dedicated to bringing the biggest names in B2B martech together to discuss how marketers can can gain confidence and achieve more with less.
And our guests had a lot to share! Here are six key B2B marketing highlights shared at MOMENTUM ‘22.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Professionals of all stripes are re-evaluating their relationship with work. In his keynote speech, Matt Heinz of Heinz Marketing stressed that B2B marketers should focus their efforts on tasks that impact revenue when it comes to work.
But how does this focus help marketers to build momentum in their work? For Matt, it’s simple — it’s about being purposeful with their labor.
“Eliminating what marketing is not is part of is where we can create momentum for ourselves as marketers and as revenue generators. It starts with changing what marketing work is, and what it’s not.”
This is easier said than done, of course. A lot of marketers are set in their ways and it can take time for new ways of thinking to gain acceptance, but spurring a cultural change within a marketing organization is necessary.
His big tip for creating that change? Help your team get in the habit of evaluating and determining what work drives revenue impaact.
Be A Guide On The Buyer’s Journey
Today’s B2B buyers are not rushing to engage with a salesperson. In fact, these buyers often do their own research and prefer to speak to sales only when they’re ready to decide. Sales and marketing teams, consequently, must adapt to this new behavior.
How? Integrate’s Stephanie Swinyer suggests that marketers and salespeople should act as guides through the buyer’s journey. For marketers in particular, she notes:
“It’s all about making that right connection at the right time, and you’re digitally influencing roughly 80% of that sales cycle. Our salespeople are expecting marketing to hand that off at the right time now, which looks a lot different than it ever has been before.”
Data Enables Creativity
A common refrain we heard from MOMENTUM ‘22 is that marketers need to stay creatively fit. And, like a good coach, data can help. How? Well, our panelists shared a few points:
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- Marketers can use data to understand where an account is in the buying journey, empowering teams to come up with new, unique ways to connect.
- Is a campaign over or underperforming? Data can provide insights and let your team know which campaigns are effective for which audience.
- True personalization takes empathy and creative touch. Use data to craft individual experiences and connect with key leads.
Celebrate Your Accomplishments
Momentum in marketing is a team sport. Building it isn’t easy, but there are a few ways you can motivate your team and keep them going.
For example, Latané Conant’s team at 6sense hosts ‘Idea Jams’ where team members take crazy ideas and turn them into an executable marketing plan. Peers from across the company also participate, allowing them to have their say and know where they fit in the plan.
But that’s not all. Latané also makes sure the team celebrates the experiments that go well.
“You’ve got to pause and make sure that you celebrate everything you’ve accomplished. Otherwise, you don’t have fuel in the tank to Idea Jam the next big thing.”
You Can’t Build Momentum Without Sales
To drive results, sales and marketing teams must get along and work together. For marketers, that means having a solid sales enablement strategy in place.
In fact, sales enablement can help bridge the gap between the two teams, empowering both sides to see the organization from a more holistic perspective. Allego’s Wayne St. Amand suggests marketers can use enablement to encourage a true partnership with sales:
“We want to be co-creators. It’s not just a request, we produce, we throw it over to them and then off they go. It’s really about understanding what battles are they fighting? How can marketing work together with the sales team to help win individual deals and deals at scale?
Co-creation and not being treated like a drive-thru window is absolutely key for alignment. It’s the only way marketers really understand the problems that sellers have in deals, and, in turn, help them overcome them.”
You Have to Work For Momentum
There are a lot of ways to drive momentum within your marketing organization. But what’s the most important thing a marketer can do to accelerate results? David Fortino at NetLine, Tessa Barron at ON24, and Sandra Freeman, at Demandbase have some quick thoughts.
David suggests that marketers build a strong commitment to creating momentum because it’s infectious:
“There needs to be a clear, concise and consistent commitment to creating momentum. That goes across every team, every product, every customer experience and every asset and ad unit that you’re trafficking. The idea is that through those small steps forward, you’re thereby accelerating that flywheel that cannot be stopped if you’re playing a consistent long game.”
Tessa suggests focusing on the audience to build momentum internally:
“If the buyer is digital, and that journey is completely digital, then we as marketers cannot think about tactics first, and then the audience. We have to think audience first, and then the tactics…You’re not defining your marketing by the program or channel you’re running. You’re defining your marketing by the buyer you’re trying to engage, convert and ultimately retain.”
Sandra stressed the concept of less but better:
“Be careful of the trap of just doing more and more to get that momentum. Instead, use data to understand what is working, what is not working — get rid of what’s not working, put more into what is working. Be more relevant in what you’re doing, add value every time.”
Experience the summit for yourself
These are just a few of the highlights from MOMENTUM. Make sure to register to watch on-demand to learn more about how to accelerate your marketing momentum.