Great Linkedin article and I highly recommend you watch the Forrester webinar.
This backs up the recent Gartner (what was CEB research) that people go online and do research. Period.
In fact they say 68% (up from 53% 2 years ago) of B&B buyers do their own independent research, 61% of these do it on mobile - B2C behaviour in B2B world.
62% are perfectly happy defining their requirements, getting that short list and issuing an RFP all from digital content (they are self serving), ie not talking to any vendors.
Forrester also say
"B2B buyers are running out of tolerance"
"it's not about me, it's about products"
"stop gating content"
"there is mistrust that customers are being treated like a datapoint"
"you content must offer the client insight, it shouldn't be about the product, and it should be in a human voice"
None of this is difficult, there is a solution ....
Over the past few years, B2B marketers and sales reps have witnessed a dramatic shift in buying power. Social media, marketing automation, and other digital advances have changed the way B2B buyers make business decisions. New research from Forrester found that 68% of B2B buyers prefer to conduct online research on their own, and 63% of them do so using a mobile device. Furthermore, 63% say they are perfectly happy and “totally capable” of developing an RFP based on content they find themselves. Today’s buyer is less loyal, more anonymous, and far more emotional than buyers of the past. The modern customer needs marketers and sales reps to start a new relationship with them, and that relationship relies on the B2B marketing content you create and disperse among your audience.
unknownx500
