As ubiquitous as
digital technology may be in our world today, it has created a set of complex
challenges for modern marketers.
On one hand, digital communications and technologies
have made it easier than ever to connect with buyers and customers. On the
other hand, tracking, nurturing, and engaging potential buyers and current
customers digitally can often seem completely disorganized, with no means of
effectively managing or measuring the value of those interactions.
Adding to this
challenge is the fact that many marketers today are expected to integrate and
organize those digital marketing efforts while still maximizing the value of non-digital
assets, experiences, and resources. Not all of the marketers in today’s
companies are digital natives, nor are the companies themselves. This means
that businesses and their marketers are expected to market digitally, yet still
incorporate and transition the decades of experience and millions of dollars
invested in event management, traditional lead management, and non-virtual
content creation.
For many organizations, this is essentially asking them to
run two entirely different types of marketing, often with half their previous
budgets. Nowhere is this duality more present than in business-to-business
(b-to-b) marketing, where companies sell products and services to each other.
B-to-b marketing
is complicated by the fact that it typically involves a much longer buying
cycle, larger purchases averaging millions of dollars each, more educated
buyers, and more complex needs. All of these unique features mean that b-to-b
digital marketing is one of the most complicated areas of marketing today.
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