There is a great bit of research from eMarketer you can get a copy of the report here, sorry they gate the report. :(

So what about these marketing trends?  The overall report summary is

"Today’s B2B buyers are younger. More than half (59%) are between the ages of 26 and 40 years old, and they expect the B2B buying experience to mirror their B2C journeys."

The buyer today is cynical, they are young, they know how to negotiate social media and the internet to get what they want.  They don't wants ads, they don't want brochures, they want insight.

We all know that every company goes to market the same way and say "buy my product because I'm great".  Which is why we ignore brochures or any other "corporate propaganda" created by companies.

That's why we need to be "more B2C".  Let's be insightful, let's be supportive, let's share our expertise, our culture, let's be entertaining!  Our buyers want us to be authentic and they are looking for somebody who can help them.  The report goes onto say

"The B2B market is facing younger buying committees, shifts in buyer expectations about the purchase process, overcomplicated tech stacks, and uncertain economic conditions. These factors are changing how marketers can reach, engage, and retain business customers."

We know that 4 mega-trends are colliding; the internet, mobile, social media and the after effects from the global pandemic has shifted the modern buyer to digital.  We are all exhausted with the deluge of cold calls, spam emails and spam Linkedin messages. 

Selling requires consensus

The report goes onto to say 

"The buying committee is bigger and more diverse. Buying experiences now have more involvement from multiple stakeholders of varying generations but still must resonate with each person."

For any seller this makes your role harder as you must need concenus in the business that your solution is a priority.

Talking to a business leader recently, who sells accounting systems to small businesses he said described how he competes with differing spend in a business and was recently in a deal where the competitor was re-tarmacing the car park. 

For a salesperson to build consensus they need conversations in an organisation and at scale.

You can only get that with social selling today!

All of us go online and do our research before buying, and so does your buyer

This reports states

"Digital self-service will dominate the B2B buyer journey. Marketers must adjust to reach buyers in digital avenues in a consumer-oriented way and let the buyer drive the discussion."

Today this is a business imperative, now the answer to this is usually, a "website" and some "brochure based content".  This just does not cut it.  Our buyers know what to look for, we all know a website tells us nothing as you will all say the same thing "buy my product because it's great".  Hubspot say we only look at a website for 4 minutes max.

The battle today is on social media, this is where buyers are and pumping out brochures is such a waste of time.

The modern buyer is looking for insight, they want to be explained how their business problem can be solved.

Want to know more about being a digital business check out my new book

"social selling techniques to influence buyers and changemakers - 2nd edition".

In this brand new edition, I have updated all the text, I have also got 15 practitioners, so people who are doing this already to explain how they are get (practical) business benefit. From the CEO that has been running a digital business for over 18 months to sales leaders who use social selling every day.  

Articles on how these business have and are implementing digital, from Mercer, Telstra Purple, Ring Central, Cyberhawk, Namos, Ericsson, Crux Consulting, DLA Ignite and more.

What does Mark Schaefer, Marketing guru think of the book "social selling - techniques to influence buyers and changemakers - 2nd edition"? watch the video here

It's available on Amazon worldwide.  Link to Amazon.com here and Amazon.co.uk here.