Momentum ITSMA MarketingVision 2020: Next-Generation Business to Business Marketing in an Age Of Convergence

New England's fall brings many wonderful things. Fall foliage is vibrant, changing temperatures, rowers on Charles River, and Halloween. Momentum ITSMA Marketing Vision has been a part of my life for nearly 20 years.

As an ITSMA partner for many years, I was able to attend the event in person. It showcases a plethora B2B marketing professionals, expert insights, points of view and cutting-edge research. As with everything else, the global pandemic caused havoc at events in person. Marketing Vision was no exception. Two years of virtual events demonstrated how to bring people together online and provide significant interaction and value.

Marketing Vision 2022 returned to Cambridge MA for an in-person event. We call it "wicked amazing" in the Boston area. While webinars and virtual events offer great content and increased interaction, there is nothing like an in-person event to network, interact with experts and have both formal and informal discussions. Marketing Vision 2022 was successful on all fronts.

In "ITSMA Marketing Vision 2020: My Top 10 "Insanely Awesome" Ah Hah Moments For Marketing Leaders", I discuss the main themes and lessons from a year ago. Steve Jobs, the late Steve Jobs, was the inspiration and David Letterman's "Top Ten" lists were the format. My "ah hah!" moments (some people call them epiphanies), revolved around Account Based Marketing (ABM), Marketing Technology(MarTech), Thought Leadership, along with key concepts like sales enablement, executive engagement and insights and intelligence.

One year later, I can see that my top ten list has aged well. They are all still relevant and essential for B2B marketing. Marketing Vision 2022 was centered on the theme of "The Year of Enablement". Although I included "sales enablement", there was another theme to this year's Marketing Vision 2022: skills development. This is in the context the "great resignation" and the unprecedented need for talent acquisition and marketing upskilling.

From a pre-conference workshop on Thought Leadership to keynotes and breakouts/workshops throughout the event, one concept remained constant: next-generation convergence. It was clear that the speakers and content discussed what felt like the next generation in B2B marketing.

Marketing is now a participant in the decision-making process. Sales and marketing alignment are key factors to being a leader. We have the best marketing strategy and a growing portfolio of Marketing Technology (MarTech). It's marketing's turn to be the leader in this exciting journey.

But, I was struck by DeJa'Vu.

There was once a concept of the "supermarketer" which meant that a B2B marketer needed to be capable of covering everything. This included content, execution, branding, marketing analytics, and, at the time, MarTech. After that, the pendulum began to swing towards specialization and the need for individual centers of expertise. The rise of Modern Marketing was followed by the need to have specific competencies and increased skills in specific areas.

The marketing funnel/waterfall has evolved from one tactic/individual into an account and a purchasing center team, just as B2B marketing has. Marketing excellence is driven by customer centricity and the team is the epicenter for marketing excellence.

These focus areas and other disciplines have combined to create the next generation in B2B marketing. It is not about the individual "supermarketer", but the entire "supermarketing team". This allows for collaboration, cross-functional competencies and enables marketing to have an inventory the necessary competency across the extended team.

Marketing has been a team sport since its inception (which hasn't changed). Collaboration has never been more essential. Although the CMO remains the "coach", the playbook and plans of the CMO must be aligned across multiple focus areas to achieve synergy. Classic "Orchestration as an Art Form" Marketing tools have never been more robust and rich, but they also offer unprecedented complexity and a multitude of options.

This year's top ten lists are not available. It's not about the top tens like "The Journey to Modern Marketing" from a past generation. Instead, it's about the key issues that a B2B marketing team, their CMO, and marketing leadership need to be focusing on. With an eye on how they all combine and create new synergies. Is this the marketing equivalent of "Theory of Everything?" The future will reveal.

This year, we will be focusing on five key recommendations

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  You can increase your marketing maturity and transformation in your organization, as well as your team and individually.
  
  Nobody wants to be a follower. Everyone wants to be a leader. This is fundamental to human psychology. Let's face it, no marketing organization invests in marketing plans or marketing strategies to be "average". A higher maturity level leads to greater value and a better customer experience (CX).
  • Momentum ITSMA research has shown that 85 percent of buyers perceive an increase in marketing's overall value, with-it consistency across delivery and value-added contents, personalization and delivery.
  • Content executives must also "want" to provide insights that enable them to make better business decisions, plan more effectively, and stay on top of the latest trends. This is a clear affirmation of the marketing role, according to CBX's latest research.
  • Customers spend an average of 13 hours per week reading external content. It must communicate value, offer guidance, and make recommendations. They prefer multimedia to read content.
  • We need to be able to mix digital and in-person experiences in a curated orchestration.
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  The Next-Generation Marketing Platform will be built with Account-based Marketing, Thought Leadership, Data and Marketing Analytics, Insights and Intelligence, and Key Principles and Key Elements.
  
  While working in financial services, I was struck by the way that an old technology tagline ("The network is your computer") had been replaced with a more modern concept ("The platform is your solution") Scott Brinker, who was a Marketing Vision speaker in the past, championed the rise and importance of the MarTech platform. While point MarTech solutions are growing, the platform is what really matters. B2B marketing is no exception. These are specific competencies that MarTech has developed. They can be viewed as a combination data and solutions supported by a platform solution. This allows for greater synergy and efficiency across key areas. These include:
  • Leveraging ABM for targeted campaigns and both a customer-first/centric approach and account marketing becoming a prerequisite for successful B2B marketing and creating increased value with existing customers
  • Engaging buyers with Thought Leader,. Provide innovation and business value through innovative content that buyers want to see (not just what you can offer) and a focus from the outside.
  • Measure what matters with Market Analytics. This is based on the best data that your company can provide. It uses an integrated platform that utilizes best-of-breed MarTech products to meet the diverse needs of your sales and marketing teams and delivers true Intelligence and Insights.

True alignment between sales and marketing allows for data- and insight-driven marketing and decision making. Although it's not easy work, it is worth the effort. Even though digital transformation has accelerated significantly since the pandemic, there is still much to be done.

High performers are organizations that achieve their marketing goals and have strong leadership in digital transformation. They also optimize the value of their MarTech investments. This is a result of the convergence of digital transformation and marketing maturity. It also demonstrates that integrated next-generation solutions are available to provide insights and orchestration across key areas.

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  Invest in Persona-Based Content, Messaging and Outside-In Content – and Double-down on Thought Leadership
  
  Although different speakers described it differently, Customer-focused was a common theme throughout Marketing Vision 2022.
  • Momentum ITSMA research has shown that customers are more loyal and the top business priority for leaders, up from last years. Content is important at all stages of the buyer's journey, regardless of how complex it may be. A well-curated, orchestrated customer experience (CX) is essential.
  • Customers know what content is needed: evidence-based with supporting data/research, innovation and best practice, as well as strategic and practical examples. Over time, people are more inclined to consume more content and to work with organizations that provide content they enjoy.
  • A well-designed piece of content will stand out in a crowd. Creativity translates into perceptions about quality and that leads to greater sharing. Poorly written, jargon- or acronym-filled content is a hindrance to the majority of people. It's important to note that this is driven by an external-in, strategic, and strategic view of life, not what your organization believes.
  • Buyer Personas that are based on a deep understanding of the customer is a requirement. They also allow for personalization and greater success with account-specific targeted marketing.
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  The Marketing Team should be able to enable and develop their skills.
  
  According to Momentum ITSMA research, improving talent acquisition, retention, and development is now a top three priority. Some organizations may have a Chief learning officer or other leadership function that focuses on marketing, but most do not. Marketing Vision 2022's theme was "year of enablement".
  • The speakers not only highlighted the data of the unprecedented "great retirement" but also the importance of people resources in a classic business, people, and technology equation for success.
  • People are the most important. Technology and processes follow (the former allowing flexibility and enabling business agility). These requirements are completed by data and leadership.
  • Marketing Enablement is the equivalent of Sales Enablement. It focuses on marketing and enabling success in roles with MarTech and processes. Organizations need to be more focused. Momentum ITSMA research found that 54 percent of organizations surveyed do not have the resources necessary to support Marketing Enablement. Only 37 percent do. They are more likely to report into the Marketing Operations function/office.
  • Not surprisingly, organizations that perform well have a higher focus on talent management, which means they are better at acquiring, developing and retaining marketing talent.
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  Create a community of interest, create a consistent and human voice, and you will have fans.
  
  Global pandemic was a demonstration of how virtual events and communities fulfilled the human interaction need that in-person events had not provided. Marketing Vision 2022 demonstrated this again.
  • Momentum ITSMA research shows that digital transformation has allowed for a hybrid marketing experience. Many speakers pointed out that there is no such thing as excessive communication. Just make sure it's focused, targeted and personalized. This is essential to the top-level marketing need to improve customer experience (CX), and drive loyalty.
  • Stories and human connections are crucial to build empathy and a lasting customer relationship. David Meerman Scott's keynote, "New Rules for B2B Marketing To Build More Fans", highlighted the importance of building fans. It also demonstrated the "fanocracy", a group of people who share common interests and are motivated by passion and enthusiasm.
  • Scott's discussion on "Newsjacking", was fascinating. The way to "own" the narrative in the market by getting in earlier was great prescriptive communication advice.
  • Momentum ITSMA's "case study" is here. The Growth Hub, a network of B2B marketing professionals with curated access research, expertise and more, builds upon the quarter century legacy of ITSMA with a new, innovative approach.

Rob Leavitt asked for closing thoughts at the conclusion of Marketing Vision 2022. I agreed with Rob Leavitt about the concept of convergence and next-generation marketing and stated that it was an exciting time in marketing. It was very encouraging to see the end of the article that said marketing had "survived a pandemic storm", displayed tremendous agility, innovation, and had the confidence and proven results.

Marketing Vision events have been a place where I was able to provide real-time event ambassadorship and tweet during keynotes, sessions and workshops. This is something I've done for many years. This result has been compiled into several "tweetdeck collection" Marketing Vision 2022 was all about "great storytelling", and this tool is great to facilitate it. This year's Momentum ITSMA Marketing Vision conference twitter coverage was split into two parts.

• Keynotes and sessions for Marketing Vision 2022
• Marketing Vision 2022 Thought Leadership Workshop

As usual, I can't wait for the next year and Momentum ITSMA Marketing Vision 2030. Alisha Lyndon and Dave Munn, from Momentum ITSMA, are already planning a great event that will build on their research agenda, client interactions and projects. Marketing Vision is open! We hope to see you next year!

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