What will it be in 2014? Will the disruption be more mobile, even bigger data, consumer behavior that conforms to an algorithm, the next Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft? Whatever the next technological and marketing disruptions turn out to be they’re sure to change the way we interact with and engage our audiences.

This SocialAgenda Media article asks a panel of marketing experts from both technology and service companies for predictions about which disruptions they expect in 2014, what changes they see coming in marketing channels and technologies, and what are their best practices for optimizing the sales process. Let’s see what we can learn about how to use the inevitable disruptions ahead to actually create marketing opportunities. But first, check the integrated demand generation process flow we’ve designed for you and download the presentation to learn about our LeadGen Journalism as a new demand gen method… Now enjoy the article.

Our virtual panelists are:

Meagen Eisenberg, Vice President of Demand Generation at DocuSign, has more than 17 years in the high-tech industry. She received the 2011 Markie Marketing Visionary award.

Umesh Malhotra, Director of Demand Generation at Arena Solutions, has over 10 years of experience in marketing. He was one of the first employees at Friendster, the mother of all Social Networks.

Heidi Bullock, Senior Director Marketing at Marketo, has more than 10 years of B2B marketing experience with high tech companies.

Trish Stromberg, Vice President of Demand Generation at Infinisource, has more than 20 years of executive marketing experience.

Dave Webb, IT/Marketing Director at Wellbuilt Equipment, has 13 years working in marketing and technology.

SocialAgenda Media: What are the biggest B2B marketing disruptions you expect to see in 2014?

HEIDI BULLOCK:

Consolidation of technology platforms. I’m anticipating gravitation towards singular platforms.  Marketers need their own system of record – specifically around core marketing capabilities that are best of breed.  It will continue to be increasingly important to get a complete view of the buyer (needs, preferences, habitual behaviors) to ensure all of a company’s communications are personal and targeted.

New ways to view and engage with content.  I expect there to be technologies that support more visual interaction.  There have been big steps for the consumer, where apps like Flipboard take the old idea of a reader and make it beautiful and interactive – but I think there will be a new wave of apps that move from a manual and stream model into a personalized and disruptive one.

Marketing will get more targeted and personalized.  For example, retargeting in its current format is not as optimized as it could be – something will take its place (that fills this function) that feels less invasive or ‘creepy’ to the consumer.

Lastly, there will be a trend towards predictive analytics.  Big data will be leveraged more effectively to predict ‘next best action’, automate scoring, and help create an experience that feels more personal.  This is the one area I am the most excited about and where the value of big data could make a significant impact for marketers.

MEAGEN EISENBERG:

Using Big Data to uncover your customer DNA. Companies like Mintigo and LatticeEngines provide solutions for lead prioritization and intelligent sales enablement.

Using Big Data to locate and target future customers and better message to their needs. Companies like Mintigo and Oceanos leverage research and technology to provide clients with data strategies and deliver list intelligence to help optimize sales and marketing performance.

B2B leveraging social better for lead gen.  You’ll be filling your funnel with Social leads using companies like Social123 and Insightpool with Social taking a bigger role and impact to your sales pipeline.

Mobile. I see everything being mobile targeted and optimized.  At DocuSign we are all about helping companies Keeping Business Digital™ to accelerate speed to results, reduce costs, and delight customers. Mobile solutions and mobility are a large part of that.

UMESH MALHOTRA:

New changes will occur in search algorithms. Google’s search algorithm changes quite often. Even SEO gurus have struggled to keep up with these frequent enhancements. When you factor in the updates, it becomes imperative for every business to know the landscape and adapt their web tactics. SEO is a key for small and medium sized businesses to generate leads organically since they don’t enjoy the luxury of the large budgets that big organizations have for advertising.

SocialAgenda Media: Since the only thing constant in the world of B2B marketing these days is change – what challenges do you see in the near future caused by new channels and technologies and what opportunities might these changes present?

MEAGEN EISENBERG:

The biggest challenge will be the amount of data to which we have access.  How do we capture and maintain it?  How do we sort through it effectively?  How do we know the right questions/queries to ask of it and distill into action?  And, how we prioritize what is important or not will determine our success and ability to make it a competitive advantage.  The companies that figure out the Big Data play will kill the competition by delivering products and services at the right time to the right person.

As a consumer, I want everything JIT (just in time) and just for me.

Accurate data will be key.  Right now we are seeing more accurate data from social channels because they are self-maintained and people maintain their own brands on them, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  But the info we need in B2B is not readily available – email, phone number and company affiliation (outside of LinkedIn of course).  The technologies out there helping us access this social data are improving – such as Social123, Insightpool and LittleBird, and helping us on the B2B side to get the relevant info for contact – phone and email address, so we can figure out how to sell to them without being too intrusive.

TRISH STROMBERG:

I anticipate a continuing trend of prospects removing suppliers from their education about a service or product. Customers do not contact vendors until they are deep into the sales cycle. As that trend continues, customers will seek communities, either online or offline to validate their preconceived ideas.

Effective marketing will need to communicate more than content and thought leadership, but rather convey information that either dissuades or confirms these preconceived ideas and makes the customer want to engage more.

There is a lot of opportunity for companies creating the right type of content, but content that is pure thought leadership is not going to drive the demand nor the leads and therefore the revenue at the pace desired by the Board.

UMESH MALHOTRA:

As a B2B Marketer, one must always be prepared to deal with changes in technology and in the industry and utilize the changes to create an advantage. But you must ask yourself – “Do I really need this technology? Is this right for my business? Will implementing this application help me? Or, will it cause delays in execution due to drifting focus to this new tool?” Change is a challenge and opportunity to respond sooner rather than later, in a way that aligns with your target audience and marketing programs.

HEIDI BULLOCK:

Many marketers are on board with leveraging multiple-channels such as email, social, mobile, etc.  The tricky part is making sure there is a consistent strategy and message across the channels and that the resulting data is analyzed as a composite, not as unique entities.  The buyer or consumer does not care if you have different teams that manage social or email – they care about a consistent experience.

As the number and variety of channels grow, it will become more important to think about message and delivery of that message.  For example, bulleted copy in an email can work well, but Facebook requires a more visual approach for successful engagement.  Companies need to think about how to manage that process.

In addition to message, there continues to be large volumes of data that are generated across platforms.  It is critical to analyze the data in a holistic fashion to get a complete view of customer behavior.  Without the right tools in place, it could become more difficult to effectively measure which channel (and respective programs) drove success – i.e., making the attribution problem trickier.  An opportunity for 2014 is for companies that can support multiple channels on a single platform – including analytics!  It is not only easier for marketers to manage fewer technology platforms, but it becomes easier to get a clear and complete view of customer behavior.  Companies that are able to do this will have an advantage.

DAVE WEBB:

I think the biggest problem our business will face in B2B marketing over the next couple years is what to do with social media. Will it suddenly become a major contributing factor to our bottom line, or remain more of a distraction than anything else?

We need a serious change in the way social media is used for B2B marketing before it can truly become successful. At this point social media is great for communicating and talking “at” people, but misses out on talking “with” people. The big challenge, unless someone changes the way social media is being marketed to companies and for companies, is how to use social media for business to business marketing when currently it is just as the name states, more social networking than business networking.

SocialAgenda Media: When visibility to your buyers’ strategies is limited how do you help your sales team gather accurate insights to address prospect pain points and help them make more educated buying decisions?

UMESH MALHOTRA:

Continuous customer meetings help understand what that type of industry/employee size/job function has found useful and what they will need in order to simplify things for them. In addition, some research by reading analyst reports to validate those pain points, what the industry is today and what will it be few years from now can help understand the direction in which a business needs to head – keeping prospects vision in mind.

TRISH STROMBERG:

At a high level, Marketing assists by providing detailed buying personas, and competitive analysis, and sharing with Sales what makes buyers tick. But, we can also track the small “yes’s” to each step in the lead generation process and share those learnings with Sales, as they provide key insight into what is driving the customer to act.

HEIDI BULLOCK:

Now more than ever, marketers can use technology to understand more about customer buying behavior in a multi-faceted way.  There are outstanding marketing platforms that can collect information and insights from buyers and consumers.  In the past, a lot of insight was gathered in person, which is great, but not always scalable.  The trick is being able to collect information on buyers (in a way that scales) across all the channels with which they engage.  You can provide your sales organization a real advantage if you can access buyer behavior in real-time and be able to respond equally as fast.  For example, this is one of the most significant advantages of marketing automation.  The sales organization can call potential buyers at the right time (based on lead scoring) and have intelligence on their interests (last website visit, etc.).

MEAGEN EISENBERG:

Teach them to ask the right questions and to LISTEN, what I call curiosity selling.  Sales needs to be able to understand the buyer’s needs first and probe further than Yes / No answers.  If they can put themselves into a consultant type role helping the buyer make better decisions for their business they are in a good place.

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