Ardath Albee
Use Context to Help B2B Buyers Bypass the Solution “Rabbit Hole”
Context is based on perspective. Quite often, the reason buyers don't engage -- or are disappointed -- with vendor content is because it lacks relevance. As the majority of B2B buyers report, the content they see is high quality, but it's not meaningful to...
What Happens When B2B Buyers Start Using ChatGPT?
For the last month or so, it seems that every other post I read or email I receive is about ChatGPT or some other AI writing software. The marketing world has glommed onto the technology as if it will save them from drowning in mediocre,…
Four Outcomes Your Buyer-Driven Experiences Must Deliver
I started this year with a post about 5 Elements to incorporate into a B2B buyer-driven experience (BDX). During the year, I've talked about what to incorporate and how to use BDXs to build momentum toward buying. As we do the work to get closer...
B2B Marketers Go for a Win with Customer Retention
When B2B marketers think “buyer,” they’re most often thinking about net-new buyers. But the biggest opportunity in an uncertain market is to focus on convincing customers to stay and customer expansion opportunities. Buyer-driven experiences (BDX) prov...
Why You Need to Revisit B2B Buyer Personas and ICPs
As the market shifts, much of what you thought was true about your buyer personas and ICPs may be different. This change may be in degrees. Or it may be big enough to require a GTM restructure. I’m not just talking about the economy or…
Use Needs and Wants to Win with Buyer-Driven Experiences
Given the degree of independence B2B buyers have assumed, compelling content is a critical component of buyer-driven experiences. Even if the solution they're considering is complex, chances are buyers will engage with your content before engaging with your sellers. The content that serves to fuel...
Use B2B Buyer Personas to Gain Consensus on Objectives
With 8 to 15 buyers involved in a complex B2B purchase, ensuring a no-regret deal can be as difficult as herding cats. By gathering and applying in-depth buyer intelligence with buyer personas, you can mitigate non-consensus due to differing objectives...
The Inside and Outside of B2B Buyer-Driven Experiences
I’m hearing a lot of assertions about the B2B buyer journey. The challenge is in how much nuance people apply to what’s said. I’m thinking about the differences between what your buyers experience with your content and brand (outside), and what it take...
Build Effective Buyer-Driven Experiences Using Intelligence and Sales Enablement
I recently presented a webinar on Putting the Buyer Back in Your B2B Marketing Strategy. As I spoke about how B2B buyers have changed and the importance of truly understanding them to build sustainable engagement and pipeline, I asked the audience if they have...
How to Build Momentum with B2B Buyer-Driven Experiences
The mandate for B2B marketers is to successfully deliver buyer-driven experiences (BDXs) as self-service encounters. If the experiences you're providing are not -- or are merely transactional -- it's prudent to reconsider. The research and sentiment are clear: your B2B buyers prefer to drive...
The Importance of Humanness in B2B Content Experiences
What is it that puts the humanness in business experiences?A recent study from researchers at the University of Florida found that it’s not the question of whether people prefer a chatbot or an exchange with a human, but rather the perceived “humanness...
Why Buyer-Driven Qualification Beats BANT
The way B2B companies qualify leads is based on what we want, rather than letting our buyers guide us. Case in point > BANT. The only component in the four components of budget, authority, need, and timing that’s buyer-driven is need. And I’d wager ...
B2B Nurturing for Lost Opportunities
Why did you lose that opportunity?Better yet, how might you resurrect buying intent? I recently wrote about B2B nurturing for net new vs. existing customers. But what about lost opportunities? Most companies tend to either write them off or recycle the...
5 Key Elements of a Compelling B2B Buyer-Driven Experience
B2B buyers are frustrated, overwhelmed, and disappointed with their buying experiences. B2B companies think they're customer-centric, but that's not what buyers perceive. That nearly half of purchasing journeys stall and end with no decision is waving a red flag in the face of organizations...
Do Your B2B Buyers Understand the Problem?
What happens when something goes wrong?In B2B marketing and sales, we talk a lot about our buyers’ pain or need. But that’s not what really defines a problem. The dictionary definition of problem is, “a matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harm...
Why Customer Centric Doesn’t Mean Buyer Driven in B2B
Customer centricity mostly misses the mark in B2B. Strangely, B2B companies use it to foster an inside-out perspective. The concept seems to be more about talking the talk than walking the walk. We can say we’re customer centric all we want, but for bu...
The Destructive Lack of Commitment in B2B Marketing
The beginning of the year is an appropriate time to take a stand about the payoffs of commitment in B2B marketing strategies. The beginning of the year is when a lot of B2B companies look at what they want to accomplish this year as a…
Is Your B2B Content Creating a Sum of Knowledge?
B2B content doesn’t create a sum of knowledge as one-off random acts of content. That’s just a recipe for confusion about your brand; frustration and a turnoff for your buyers; and putting loyalty in question for your customers.To create influence, you...
B2B Nurturing for Net New vs. Existing Customers
The curiosity gap – the distance between what your buyers and customers know and want to know – is a moving target. It’s not a static place in time. With every interaction, people learn something that shifts their context and comprehension, whether for...
The Blandscape of B2B Marketing Content Needs a Bit of Emotion
For some reason, B2B marketing content tends to lean more toward academia than literary license. Much of the content produced is dry, mechanical, and, well, academic. We think our content must exude professionalism because we sell complex, high-ticket ...