The State Of

B2B Marketing

Nathan Collier

Director of Content, FastSpring

Nicole Gottselig

Senior Brand Editor, Hojtar

Anja Zschornig

VP Talent, Organisation & Community,
Schwarz Media Platform

Megan Thudium

CEO & Founder, MTC The Content Agency

Lily Ugbaja

Content Writer, Strategist & Editor for HR SaaSand Martech

The State of B2B MarketingWhat We’ll Cover:01

A Spotlight On The Inner Workings Of A B2B Marketer

How To Turn Common B2B Marketing Challenges Into A

02

03

Piece Of Cake

Challenge 1: Too much to do with too little time

Challenge 2: Spitting out content like a well-oiled machine04

that has no fuelChallenge 3: Developing content that burns money instead05

of earns

Challenge 4: Crafting lifeless content rather than crafting

06

stories

Challenge 5: Assuming that doing translations is the same07

08

as international market expansion

Content By The People, For The People

The State of B2B Marketing

B2B Marketing Today Is
All About People

It’s high time, isn’t it?

He breeds big cats, wears KISS-inspired glitzy blazers and flaunts his dirty blondemohawk.

The bizarre relationships and on-going drama with his nemesis, Carole Baskin kept us
hooked. 

Is this ringing any bells?

If you fell into the trap, you binged the series Tiger King — why?

Simple. The story mimicked the same sort of madness that was happening in ourworld in 2020. We connected and we were infatuated. We even made memes about it.

The State of B2B Marketing

02So, where’s this going and why should you, as a
B2B marketer, care?

Though many things in our digital world are rapidly changing, one thing stays
the same— storytelling is an essential tool for not only B2C brands, but for B2B
too. 

Behind every B2B interaction is a person. A person with highs and lows, afamily, and passions.

Storytelling connects you with your audience like no other medium and you
can’t nourish a relationship without sharing your personal stories, values, andbeliefs. 

Nowadays, the focus of B2B marketing is creating interpersonal connections,as well as communicating more with stakeholders and the people running thebusinesses.

Our goal with this content is to examine current trends and give you tangible
actions on how to improve prevailing strategies. By learning from successful
marketers who have already done it, you can set yourself up to adapt for the
future.

We already did the heavy lifting for you. We interviewed industry experts to:
Paint a clear picture of the latest B2B marketing trends
Inquire about the most successful strategies and tactics for B2B marketing.
Learn from top B2B marketers and their best practices.
Help visualize the future direction of B2B marketing.

$€%
The State of B2B Marketing03

By utilizing more substantial data, we can be stronger together. If we
improve the quantity and quality of our data we, as marketers, canbetter understand the real world, the world of our target persona - thereal living, breathing, people we want to engage.

Let’s nowshedsome lighton ourfindings.

The State of B2B Marketing04

A Spotlight On The
Inner Workings Of A
B2B Marketer
The inner workings of modern
B2B marketers, how does it look?
How does it differ from the past?

We connected with subject
matter experts to hear theirinsight. We interviewed them togather qualitative data to analyze
and extract common themes.
Here’s what we found.

The State of B2B Marketing05

To Reach Businesses, You Need to Reach People

Transitioning to digital has created channel fatigue.

Anja Schörnig,

VP Talent, Organisation & Community,
Schwarz Media Platform,

Puts it,A lot of companies in the past depended on
physical events for demand gen. When the
pandemic hit marketers needed to find a way toshift that lever into the digital space. I think weare all still testing with those formats.

Excitement flows as you tell your story in person, so displaying the same pizazz acrossplatforms has been challenging. And, because utilizing different platforms were new
to most businesses, “the competition is getting extreme. You experience channel
fatigue, or channels are getting too expensive” when all moved online.

B2B Marketing is more and more
about connecting with people with afocus on the screen.

Businesses have never been able toreach so many people as they do now.
When utilized correctly, more of yourpeople can be reached on a personallevel. However, many lose sight of theintent.

The State of B2B Marketing06

Nathan Collier,

Director of Content, FastSpring,Puts it this way,
Here’s an example that anyone with a directorlevel title will understand. If you’re in a
management role in a B2B company you most
likely get bombarded with LinkedIn cold pitches
every day from sales people of all kinds. And if
you don’t respond, then tomorrow you’ll get
another one from that same person. And the day
after tomorrow, you’ll get another one. And
they’re not personal, they’re just using software.
The person sending that has never looked at my
LinkedIn profile and they’ve never actually lookedat who I am and what I do. I think taking the timeto spend just 2 minutes to look at my profile is soeasy to help customize a pitch to me, and yet it sorarely happens.

The State of B2B Marketing07

Even With All This Tech, We Are Working Harder, Not Smarter

Switching gears, let’s take a closer look at how our current way of operating isn’t
permitting us to thrive.

Lack of alignment between sales and marketing doubles the work.

“A lot of times it’s not even that marketing isn't doing great orenough stuff, it’s more that sales doesn’t feel sufficiently
informed and involved, which can easily be overcome.”

Clear communication is key. In relationships and in business. 

It’s that simple.

“Marketing needs to learn to speak the language of sales better.”

We are selling to the same people. Working together for the sake of the audience, tostay on the same page, is the smartest thing we can do.

“When marketing is focused on things that sales doesn’t careabout, then sales will go and do their own thing, because they’remeasured on quota and I don’t blame them on that.”

So have marketing join demos and sales write organic content, we have to mesh ourwork and care about our collective effort more than result-oriented silos. 

The issue arises f rom marketing’s obsession with numbers.

“Analytics is becoming too much of a distraction to marketers.
We’re drowning in numbers and starving for insight. When sales
and marketing becomes a numbers game, then we lose whatmakes sales and marketing interesting, which is that connection
with people on a human level.”

The State of B2B Marketing08

B2B And B2C Actually Aren't That Different - A Person Is Still
The Buyer
B2B is migrating away from corporate, impersonal decision-making processes.
Nicole Gottselig goes on to add,
“Whether B2B or B2C, it doesn’t matter
anymore, at the end of the day we are
writing to people and with that said,
every B2B content team needs someone
who is a promoter.”

Each company needs someone
pondering ‘what it’s like to be a
consumer’ as in, “what gets me to click,
what gets me to stop, what gets me tolisten.” When we think in this way, we’reharnessing human decision-making
thoughts and therefore making
decisions accordingly.

The differences between B2B and B2C are diminishing.
“B2B and B2C are not that much different anymore. Today’s
customer, whether it’s in B2C or B2B, still want to have the same
delightful experience.

B2B is still different from B2C since buying interests or
motivations are primarily job-focused and include several
individuals in the decision-making process. However, B2C andB2B are similar in that they both need to spark people's interest
to be successful.”Nicole Gottselig,

Senior Brand Editor, Hojtar

The State of B2B Marketing09How To Turn Common

B2B Marketing Challenges
Into A Piece Of CakeWe know what you’re thinking,this seems like a lot of challenges
to tackle. What’s more, where doyou even start? How can you takeaction on these insights?

Here are actionable steps to solve
current B2B marketing challenges.

The State of B2B Marketing10Challenge #1: Too muchto do with too little time
We’re not going to sugar coat it. Just like
Leigh Buttrey,

Joseph from Tiger King was hanging on athread of his sanity at the end of the series
Holistic Marketing Expert
at AS Marketing(okay…, seriously you need to binge thisshow tonight!) – marketing budgets are on“Understanding yourthin ice too.

marketing goals and your
From 2020 to 2021 they decreased from 11%
customers makes it muchto 6.4% (Source). 

easier to prioritize wheretime should be spent.
Less money means less work, right?

Excelling on only 1
Nope– the opposite actually. And any B2B
marketing channel thatmarketer around town feels this one to theconverts is far better thancore.

being mediocre across 5.
Less budget, but more tasks with less#dontspreadyourselftoothin
people. Seriously– we’re like third gradeteachers juggling e-learning and off-thewall parents, all while attempting to teachstudents a thing or two.
More than ever, marketing departments need to prove that they are revenue
generators and not cost centers.

So, here’s how we end this thing once and for all…

Solution: Align sales and marketing

The State of B2B Marketing11Create harmony amongst sales and marketingthrough a cohesive customer journey map. Let us
explain:

When everyone is on the same page with the same
big picture in mind, everything flows smooth like ariver. 

Traditional work silos are eliminated and both teams
regularly high-five each other after crushingrevenue goals.

Throw a marketing-first approach, a clear strategy,
joint KPI’s, and customer feedback together andwhat do you get?

A symphony– that’s what. 

An aligned masterpiece.

Bottom line: Мore alignment = More success“When sales and marketing are misaligned it’s because they’rebeing measured by metrics that are not aligned.”
Nathan Collier,

Director of Content, FastSpring

The State of B2B Marketing

12Challenge #2: Spitting out content likea well-oiled machine that has no fuelHere’s a start:

Don’t do content for content’s sake
The State of B2B Marketing13

Think about how you will use the content. If on the website, is it for SEO or paid
advertising, or maybe both? If downloadable, use it as ABM for specific paid
campaigns. 

Just like you wouldn’t let your milk sit out, don’t do it to your content either, or it’ll get
moldy. 

Content needs to be used, moved around, and promoted.

It has a specific purpose and should be used for such.

To help you stay on track, establish a content calendar incorporating everything from
intention to publishing.

Then, hire B2B content strategists and writers to improve the consistency and qualityof content.

Lily Ugbaja,

Content Writer, Strategist &Editor for HR SaaS and Martech

I prefer to map content at the bottom of the funnel,
so that when people visit your site, there’s alreadyconversion-focused content there to lead them toyour desired action.

So I map from bottom of the funnel, then middle ofthe funnel, then top of the funnel. 

I know some people prefer to start at the top of thefunnel, because that’s where the bulk of the traffic
is, but my thought is: if you’re bringing in traffic but
you aren’t converting them, then what’s the point?”*Drops mic*

The State of B2B Marketing14

Challenge #3: Developing content that burns
money instead of earns
Switching gears, let’s talk SEO.

Not many know how to rank in Google andstand out to competitors. You might even find
it difficult to streamline information and build
trust with your audience, especially when
there are multiple decision-makers orcomplex funnels.
So, here’s the 411:

Align search intent with purchase intent.
Segment your audience and match
psychographic marketing with customer
journeys and search intent.

To do this, streamline your buyer personas,
thoroughly research keywords and cluster
them, create a keyword map, and then build
your content. 

Whether you turn your notifications on,
subscribe to a newsletter, or assign someone
to stay tuned– make sure to keep the pulse ofalgorithm changes.

Specifically when it comes to core updates
like Google matching search intent to SERP
results or page experience updates for UX andsearch intent.

Zoe Ashbridge,

SEO Expert at AS Marketing“When creating content,
always keep your target
audience in mind. Write
content that will be usefulto the reader. This means
creating content with an
SEO-first approach. SEO
data tells us what buyers
are searching for, exactly
what content they want tosee and SERP analysis tells
us exactly what content
type to create. The only way
to create content thatgenerates revenue for yourbusiness is to write well, get
it on page 1 and serve thereader’s needs.”

Lily Ugbaja agrees, “Look at the SERPs to align the search intent.
Do not look at the SERPs to model your posts after what you
find. Look at user research instead. Find those questions thatyour users really want answers to.”The State of B2B Marketing15

Challenge #4: Crafting lifeless content rather
than crafting stories
As online noise increases, B2B businesses struggle to generate meaningful traffic totheir websites and landing pages.

Does this sound familiar?

When there’s a lack of intention behind a post, it reduces quality traffic. 

And, we might hit a nerve with this one, but—Rather than connecting with audiences and telling an enticing story, content issometimes used to satisfy stakeholders that “SEO” is being implemented (hey,somebody had to say it!)Some B2B marketers are too caught up chasing glitzy numbers instead of promoting
quality traffic and keyword rankings that match true search intent.

“Storytelling is a powerful way to connect with your audienceand cultivate trust.

When you tell a story, you are inviting your audience to trust you- to believe in the world you are creating, the characters who
inhabit it, and the transformation that happens as they go along
their journeys. In return, they will give you their attention, theirtime, and their hearts. 

Good stories are attention-grabbing, motivating, and persuasive.
It brings your brand to life, adding personality and making you
more relatable. 

Storytelling is the most human way to market your products
and services - and it just might be the most effective way,too.”
Liz Villaseñor,

Brand & Storytelling Expert at AS Marketing

By incorporating the power ofstorytelling, we can attract the rightaudience and keep them interested

The State of B2B Marketing

16Think about how you got sucked into this article in the first place (Tiger King,
remember?)

You were curious, connected, and entertained as your brain projector simulated
images of the very words on the screen.

By generating this same experience for your audience via content that connects,
you’ll ignite a spark that can't be put out.

In the end, whether B2C or B2B– we’re all people just longing for a juicy story to
sweep us off our feet, help us feel seen, or distract us from reality. 

It’s time to end the madness– no more ‘boring’ business blogs, no more genericbrand stories, no more gobbledygook. 

Give the people what they want so they stay Justin Bieber fan-girl excited andconvert like crazy.
N​ athan Collier says it perfectly,​“When you work in B2B you’re still selling to people, and people
respond to stories. That’s the heart of it.”

The State of B2B Marketing17Challenge #5: Assuming that doing translations is
the same as international market expansion
It’s time to bring it to the neighborhood! Localize
your content to reach local culture by including
written mannerisms instead of simply
translating what's already there.

This is a HUGE opportunity to reach the people
closest to you and if done right, localization
enables B2B companies to expand and compete
within international markets (yes, please!)

While you expand, don’t assume all global
markets want the same things, react to thesame messages, or speak the same languages.

That’s like assuming all Italians like pizza (well,this one might be true) or all Indians like currychicken. 

We’re all different, okay!?

The challenges here arise in language barriers,building local reputation, and boosting
international SEO.

Lukas Reinhardt,
International Marketing
Expert at AS Marketing“It’s not enough anymore
to simply translate yourcontent if you want toexpand into new markets.
International customers
are looking for localized
content that resonateswith them on a culturaland contextual level.”Companies need tolearn how to talk thetalk and walk the walkby stretching beyond
the buyer persona.
The State of B2B Marketing 18

Take the time to get to know your customer beyond the traditionalbuyer persona:
Segment markets based on location, language, and buyer intent
Learn the differences between markets and apply customized
marketing strategies
Understand that content that appeals to one segment may notentice others; create variable content to target each market

Customers are looking for content in their own language and customs, so if you don’t
have the knowledge → outsource!

“In the end, why are they making buying decisions? Because
they know you and they like you. It’s as simple as that, and how
do you do that? 

Through brand recognition.

They know who you are, they’ve seen your logo a few times, they
understand that you walk the talk.”
Megan Thudium,

CEO & Founder, MTC The Content Agency“Understanding your audience is key. Beyond knowing who
you’re talking to, you must go deep into their psychographics.
This means identifying your target audience’s interests, habits,
personality, opinions, and lifestyle. 

Only then would you know what they care about, what drives
them, and what they most likely respond to. 

How do you do this exactly? 

Well, LinkedIn happens to be a great place to start researching
your ideal customers.”
Adriana Stein,

CEO & Founder at AS Marketing

The State of B2B Marketing19

Content By The People, For The People

Whether you sell services to businesses, products to individuals, or a combination of
the two, one thing always remains the same.

You’re a person, trying to reach another person.

Behind the corporate job titles, the generalised categories and the formal buying
process, there’s a person behind that blog hit and a person (or people) that spenttime pulling it together.

Following two years of separation, now more than ever, people are craving essential
connection, and that’s true for marketing too.

Rather than placing a blanket focus on marketing as a process, companies should
put their energy into the experience of marketing through a people driven approach.

To put it simply, we know that there are people involved at all stages of the buying
process. 

It’s only by listening deeply to your customers' real-world, in-the-moment needs thatyou can devise new strategies that address the specific challenges people areexperiencing. So you can stop speaking at them, and instead start speaking withthem.

Marketers need to recognise that businesses aren't actually buying what you're trying
to sell. Individual decision-makers—people—are making the decisions for theircompanies, not impersonal disengaged companies as a whole.

Remember these three critical points:

Create high-quality content that addresses your buyer persona’s needs
and wants through cultivating a ‘sell less, give more’ attitude (morevaluable content).
Personalise your messages to consumers through a familiar best-f riend
or mentor-like interaction, cohesive between sales and marketing.
Be real, be vulnerable, be human – faceless corporations are so last year.
Give your people your raw story so they feel comfortable connecting
and buying f rom you.

The State of B2B Marketing20

Ready to Turn Your Content Strategy Into A
Binge Worthy Read?

Do you want to keep talking to a wall with your content marketing?

Or would you rather spark conversation that highlights you as an individual,
and connects you to the people who want to hear f rom you?

We know which we’d pick, but first things first, we’d love to meet you (and wemean YOU, not just the business).

SCHEDULE A FREE DISCOVERY CALLLEARN MORE ABOUT OUR SERVICESThe State of B2B Marketing

21

ABOUT AS MARKETING
With all the information at your fingertips, there’s a lot you can figure out on yourown. But we’ve seen first-hand how quickly your marketing team and your company
grow and scale when you get focused support from a team of B2B marketing
experts.

Working with us as your marketing partners and strategists accelerates your growthby eliminating the guesswork and setting you on the right track.

A strong go-to market strategy is just the beginning - we instantly fill the gaps in yourresources and scale your project from day 1.

No more marketing silos.

No more praying that Google gets the point across to your international audience.

No more billboard-like, one-size-fits-all marketing junk.

Don’t wait for a sign-ier sign than *this*We’ve packaged your solution up with a red ribbon!

AS Marketing is your one-stop-shop for:Developing holistic marketing roadmaps built to scale (good-bye
generic strategies!)
Reaching your global B2B audience (without Google Translate)Easy-to-use marketing systems, tools, and resources to grow yourbusiness
If this tickles your fancy, grab yourself a pippin’ hot latte & book a free 30minute discovery call so we can chat about your project:

SCHEDULE A FREE DISCOVERY CALLThe State of B2B Marketing20

Developing holistic
marketing roadmaps
with proven SEO
strategies and scaling
marketing systems
Featured in Moz, SEJ, OnCrawl,
BrightonSEO, and HubSpot
READ MORE ABOUT ADRIANA ON LINKEDIN

I love working together with AS Marketing, because they have anamazingly collaborative mindset, are highly organized, and havegone far beyond supporting us with SEO. They’ve also helpedwith our brand strategy, product messaging, Google Ad
campaigns, and LinkedIn strategy.
Tobias Arns

Chief Marketing Officer, Kindly

Click to read Kindly's story

The State of B2B Marketing20

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