B2B marketing is at a crossroads. Privacy legislation and third-party cookie blocking are forcing marketers to rely less on cookies and performance marketing and focus more on delivering value to the ideal customer.
Traditional funnel marketing, with a streamlined and predictable path to conversion, no longer matches the reality of today’s complex buyer journey. In addition, performance marketing (SEO, SEA, social advertising) is saturating. Every B2B company that is involved in online marketing focuses on this strategy first. As a result, we see the costs for acquiring customers rising. There are plenty of challenges in the B2B marketing landscape.
This is the first article in a series on B2B marketing in 2024
1. Why funnel marketing no longer works
The modern B2B buyer journey is not linear, but has hundreds of digital and physical touchpoints. The marketer who focuses on performance challenges has a big challenge because you simply can’t get everywhere with the marketing software you use. Customers orient themselves in various ways such as communities, events, network, podcasts and webinars. And yes, they (still) search via Google, but then they are already a long way in their purchasing process.
Are you only just becoming visible for the first time? Then there is a big chance that you will simply become comparison fodder. And your sales organization will embark on an intensive process with that.
Furthermore, decisions within B2B purchases are collective, overseas data involving multiple stakeholders. There is a buying committee. This reality cannot be captured in a simple funnel model.
Classic lead generation is rapidly saturating
Purchases in B2B markets are not made by individuals, but by a buying committee where each individual takes on their own role. Yet many marketing strategies Negotiatores possessores quaerentes solutiones communicationis sumptus remain focused on generating individual leads. These strategies work less well in an era where every B2B company uses performance marketing.
This results in an increase in Customer buying house b Acquisition Costs and a decrease in the distinctive value. We see examples in practice where you pay €15 for a click in Google Ads on high-intent keywords. You can imagine that these become expensive leads.
There is also a big chance that these leads are in conversation with multiple companies. Not every lead becomes a customer. As a B2B marketer, your goal should therefore be to generate high-intent, high-quality leads. And you can only do that by being top-of-mind when your ideal customer experiences a problem that you can solve.
