How New Changes to B2B Buying Cycle Will Impact Your Marketing

There were some big surprises in Demand Gen’s new 2019 B2B Buyers Survey Report. The one thing we can always count on is change. This year’s changes may require that you revisit your marketing strategy and tweak your tactics.

Here are the stats that jumped out at our team.

• Buyers are accelerating the time to engage with sales reps so they can make decisions as quickly — or as slowly — as desired.
• 75% of buyers said they are spending more time researching purchases, which is up from 72% in 2018.
• 79% of respondents said the winning vendor’s content had a significant impact on their buying decision.
• More than two-thirds (68%) said they notice ads from the solution provider they chose during the research process; and Of those who noticed the winning vendors’ ads, 37% of them said those ads positively impacted their view of the company.

 B2B buyers are spending more time researching but are engaging earlier.

While the overall sales cycle in B2B continues to stretch, the research showed B2B buyers are continuing to make key decisions earlier in the buying process. The study shows that 42% of respondents spoke to and engaged with reps from the selected vendor in under a month, compared to 33% in 2018.

Another 30% said they spoke to sales reps within one to three months. The study also found that 70% of buyers accepted a call or demo from a vendor within the first three months, while another 70% evaluated which solutions would fit well with existing partners in the first three months.

This signals that sales reps are having a bigger impact on the early stages of the customer journey compared to traditional practices of marketing handing off leads to sales.

What Do these New Stats Mean for Your Program?

Take a look at the following chart. We’ve highlighted a couple of areas that should be noted. Three of the highlighted areas involve sales contacting prospects sooner rather than later.

What does this mean for your program?

It means that you need to reevaluate your MQL triggers so that sales is contacting them earlier.

The fourth are that we have highlighted talks about the importance of industry analyst involvement. 63% look for guidance from industry analyst yet many B2B firms don’t have a formalized engagement program.

If you don’t have a formal industry analyst program, then you need one.

Content Still Rules

High quality, easily digestible content continues to be the cornerstone of any marketing program. In each of the highlighted categories, more than 90% of the respondents claim that content influenced their decision. Both the sales reps and your content need to clearly demonstrate that you understand your customer’s needs as well as the overall trends and business landscape.

What does this mean for your program?

Continue to develop high quality content that focuses on demonstrating your thought leadership in context of the industry landscape.

Advertising

In the chart below, 37% claim that advertising influenced their positive perception of a brand. Wow! That is new. Just a couple of years ago, ads were declared “dead” by content enthusiasts.

What does this mean to your program?

This just proves that traditional marketing still works and it needs to be part of an overall integrated program. You may want to consider increasing your advertising budget.

To read the full report, click here. It is definitely worth the read!