Our new B2B marketing role pages are just one month old, and we have already published new reports on B2B channels, marketing through communities, B2B metrics that matter, and thought leadership programs. All topics at the sharp end of B2B marketing.

Our team was also present at Forrester’s two Marketing Leadership Forums held in New York and London. In addition to giving topic presentations there, we ran a 90-minute consulting workshop for over 100 B2B marketers in New York advising attendees on how to formulate their target personas and potential content for thought leadership programs and providing methodology and tools.

This week, Kim Celestre is presenting to thousands of marketers at the National Automotive Parts Association Expo in Las Vegas (yes, that is also B2B!). In fact, at our last research meeting, we discussed what’s the same across all different B2B industries and what varies. Here are some highlights from that discussion, some of which will appear in future reports. We hear that all B2B marketers feel that:

  • Digitally empowered buyers are disenfranchising sales (see this report)
  • Empowered customers are intolerant of non-relevant “campaigns” (more on that in this report)
  • The importance of peer references (including social) is increasing
  • The pressure is on to demonstrate marketing's impact on business results (try this report)
  • There is a greater need than ever to better serve and retain existing customers, and partners, to ward off competition and secure future revenue (read this report)

But each industry also has its own unique challenges, so we talked about:

  • The CMO of a financial services firm who had to quickly develop a new lead nurturing process when marketing's thought leadership initiative started driving significant traffic to the firm’s website.  “I don’t have a way to monetize this traffic,” she told Forrester in a recent interview. “These are potential buyers, but I can’t call them “leads” for our sales reps.  They would just ignore such early stage buyers.”
  • The head of multichannel marketing for a leading pharmaceutical company who’s been tasked to devise a strategy for e-detailing because the company’s sales reps are getting less access to doctors (detailing is the term for a  pharmaceutical sales call).
  • The marketing director for a business supply and services company who is struggling to operationalize the company's brand values through its direct and channel sales organizations (what we call the Position goal in sales enablement).  
  • The channel marketing manager at an insurance company worrying about through partner marketing platforms and processes (we are currently researching a Forrester Wave for that technology area). 
  • Management at a large glass container manufacturer who’ve created a digital destination to share the health, environmental, and quality benefits of using glass and inspire packaged goods producers to see the benefits of using that material differently.

If you’d like to discuss your own unique B2B marketing challenges, place an inquiry with any analyst in the B2B marketing team.  If your questions concern:

  • Community marketing, social marketing or selling – ask for Kim Celestre
  • Lead-to-revenue management, digital marketing, or marketing automation – ask for Lori Wizdo
  • Content marketing, thought leadership or customer engagement – ask for Laura Ramos
  • Channel partner enablement and marketing – ask for Tim Harmon
  • Any of the above and sales enablement (we are hiring two new analysts here urgently) – ask for me

Always keeping you informed! Peter