Looking Ahead: The big ideas for B2B marketing in 2023

Over the recent years, the world has thrown B2B marketers into the unknown and often tumultuous waters. From finding the right customers to communicating effectively, building meaningful relationships, and finally delivering business impact – the road to success has had its bends and curves. Marketers have rerouted their ways around these bumps by building solid brands that customers can relate to and rely on. Now, as they navigate through another period of economic uncertainty, success will be defined by their ability to adapt to these new winds of change. Driving business results in a sensitive market will be critical, and LinkedIn has some big ideas that promise to set the stage for successful B2B marketing in 2023.

CMOs will need to speak the language of the CFO to continue brand-building during uncertainty

At any given time, only 5% of buyers are in the market to make a purchase. Businesses that want to hold their grounds firm amidst uncertain economic waves will need to target the other 95% – the key to doing that lies in effective brand building. Almost all marketers in India believe that brand building is critical to avoid memory corrosion and ensure faster recovery during uncertainty. However, if we were to borrow from history, marketing budgets have always been the first to be drained when calamity hits. And today, 98% of marketing leaders in India believe that improving CFOs’ understanding of long-term B2B marketing ROI is critical to strengthening future budgets. CMOs will thus have to translate their work into a metric that CFOs see value in to drive greater impact for their businesses in 2023. 

Partnering with agencies who invest in more B2B specialization

As an increasing number of sellers catch up with the importance of long-term B2B marketing, marketers will turn towards trusted third-party agencies. B2C expertise will no longer be the reference point for marketers, they will look for specialized B2B agencies that bring a deeper understanding of customers’ needs and buyer paths, especially when budgets are tight and restricted to critical-only investments. Thus, choosing the right partner will be crucial to achieving success with the right customers.

Humanising your brand and measuring success through purpose-built metrics

In 2023, marketers will need to be extremely mindful of going to market at a time when the price is likely more top-of-mind for buyers than it has been over the past few years. This means B2B marketers will need to humanize their messages to create an emotional connection and stay top-of-mind so buyers know where to go when budgets come back. And as pressure to demonstrate true business impact builds amid uncertainty, the B2B marketing industry will also see the emergence of purpose-built measurement tools to account for nuances in B2B buying — like months-long buying cycles and involvement from multiple decision makers. This will define new industry standards and create more possibilities for marketers to merchandise the value of their strategies and investments.

Shifting buyer preferences will disrupt the B2B purchase path

With very little change in the B2B buying process over the past few years, the industry is poised to undergo a significant transformation in the coming years, driven by evolving buyer preferences for more transparency and control over how they engage with brands. B2B brands help drive the global economy forward by enabling other businesses to unlock more growth, so B2B buyers have both the opportunity to inspire organization-wide impact and tremendous responsibility to deliver the right tools and solutions. While marketers strengthen their brand identity to be relevant in the long term and reimagine how they sell, buyers will increasingly demand more control and transparency from brands as they explore potential solutions, which will reshape the purchase path and lead to new innovations in how brands go to market.

Taking a proactive approach to privacy

The brands that most successfully navigate the emerging privacy landscape this year will be the ones that balance a forward-looking approach to privacy and the ability to pivot quickly in the short term. Over the past few years, brands have implemented a patchwork of mitigations in a reactive manner to address the ongoing changes in privacy. Moving into 2023, brands will go on the offensive. They will see the benefit of investing in a multitude of solutions and be able to pivot quickly to meet the moment. Brands that succeed in the new year will keep a close eye on what’s helping them drive results — and even more importantly, what’s not working — so they can proactively flex their strategies and investments.

Marketers who want to succeed through this whirlwind will need to plan for the bigger picture – focus on larger business objectives instead of short-term success. To do so, building a brand that is memorable, resilient, and humane will be imperative, especially amidst uncertain times.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com