By Ankur Shukla

In these last couple of pandemic years we as consumers have been impacted with something called DREAM syndrome- Digital Rules Everything Around Me.

This digital information overload, on one side, sometimes leaves one puzzled about what to choose and on the other side has brought forth some experiences, which are too compelling and have left us spoilt to buy even if the need is latent.

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This scenario has sowed the seeds of change and also has impacted an entire B2B ecosystem as 

“B2B buyer has moved from having been a passive recipient of one-way information to now being active participant across the entire Moment of Truth cycle”   

This change opens up a huge opportunity for B2B marketers to reimagine how can they create impact across the funnel. Few areas that now have the potential to undergo the change are

·      Active interaction @ ZMOT – Normally buyers are almost 60-70% into the purchase journey before an active & interactive engagement happens. Providing an immersive and rich virtual buying experience could be the gamechanger. Imagine a 3D virtual experience on one’s mobile device while (s)he is searching for split panels to be put in office boardroom or even a coffee mug to be put on employee’s desk. The intent here should be to provide a rich virtual buying experience

·      Omnichannel canvassing across Funnel – Now that a B2B buyer has already been made compellingly aware, the omnichannel navigation experience till the final purchase is needed. Imagine him receiving a comparison analysis quotation in his email (obviously must be an interactive one) followed by a testimonial video of another buyer on his Telegram or WhatsApp. 

·      Role of Pre-Purchase Analytics – In this case I’m taking example of SaaS. This is one area where pre-purchase trial for a set of users can follow with full blown analytics during the entire trial period and these analytics can be routed to the collective cohort of users, influencer and decision maker e.g., in case of a HR tool, it can be routed to employees, HR head and the CFO too. With this organizational consensus can be built effectively, and closure will be accelerated with a strong LTV possibility for the brand. 

All the above scenarios have the potential of B2B marketing adapting to A2A marketing (All to All), since the lines between B2B & B2C are rapidly fading, courtesy high digital consumption at end consumer level.

B2B marketers should 

·      Invest in building Buyer personas digitally using AI tools

·      Build Technical competencies across entire MOT cycle

·      Explore community consensus build up 

·      Deliver superior C/X and sharp brand positioning by weaving insights into Product roadmaps

The author is a senior vice president, product marketing of Innoviti Payment Solution. Views expressed are personal.

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