Download Forrester's Report "Embrace These B2B Mindset Shifts To Accelerate Lifecycle Revenue Evolution" and read on for tips and tricks on adapting your marketing strategy in this new era.

The B2B marketing world is flipping on its head. Remember when we used to target that one decision-maker? Well, that’s history. Now, we’re dealing with a whole network of stakeholders, each with their own quirks, needs, and preferences. Plus, the vast majority of buyers are now self-reliant researchers who prefer digging deep into online info over having a chat with a salesperson.

Forrester’s report, "Embrace These B2B Mindset Shifts To Accelerate Lifecycle Revenue Evolution," dives into these changes. Let’s unpack the key findings and figure out how you can fine-tune your marketing strategy to match this new B2B buyer scene.

Kiss Your Old Marketing Funnel Goodbye 

Forrester's Buyers' Journey Survey reveals that 71% of global purchase influencers report that at least four people are involved in their organization's B2B purchases, and nearly half say it's ten or more internal participants. So much for the myth of the solo decision-maker! This means your “Marketing Qualified Lead” isn't really steering their own buying process. To connect with these groups, marketers need to toss out the old playbook and embrace a fresh approach.

Instead of clinging to the traditional funnel—marketing qualified leads to sales-qualified leads—which often misses the mark, it’s time to pivot to signal-based marketing. This method zeroes in on the entire buying group and involves closely watching and analyzing their online actions and signals to decode their buying intent. By doing this, with the help of AI-powered tools, you can create data-backed, hyper-personalized approaches for your outreach, ensuring every touchpoint resonates with the unique needs of each buying group member.

Catering to Diverse Needs

With more folks involved in B2B buying, you’ve got to cater to a wildly diverse range of needs and interests. Forget the old playbook—today’s buyers want content that’s targeted, informative, and engaging—the kind they can sink their teeth into on their own terms. What does a marketing decision-maker need? Marketers’ needs are completely different from what an IT or legal decision-maker is after. Each buyer and influencer has their own set of concerns and priorities, so your content needs to zero in on their unique pain points.

To truly understand both known and unknown audiences, achieve this level of personalization, and make the most of the signal-based marketing approach, savvy marketers are supercharging their tech stacks with AI-driven hyper-personalization and content intelligence tools. Using these signals (data collected on buyers) you can train automation software to craft content and pathways that let buyers self-serve all the way through their journey. It's time to ditch the guesswork and start hitting the mark with precision.

Cracking the Code

While most buyers are all about that self-service life, there comes a moment when they need to chat with a real person to seal the deal. That’s why sales and marketing alignment is more crucial than ever. To nail this, both teams need to be in constant communication, leveraging those juicy buying signals together. Try these three game-changing moves to supercharge your sales-marketing collaboration – my takeaways from Forrester’s report, Embrace These B2B Mindset Shifts To Accelerate Lifecycle Revenue Evolution:

●     Ditch the “Handoff and Then Hands-Off” Routine: Too often, marketing tosses leads over to sales and then ghosts. Big mistake. Marketing needs to stick around, nurture those long-term relationships, and use sales feedback to make future campaigns even sharper.

●     Chase the Long Game: Don’t just aim for a one-time sale—think long-term loyalty. Forrester notes that 58% of global purchase influencers are already customers of the primary providers from which they made a recent technology-related purchase. That’s your jackpot. Marketers must buddy up with sales to boost renewals, upsells, and cross-sells.

●     Redefine Your Scoreboard: Those old-school metrics? Toss 'em. Measure what truly counts: marketing ROI, customer satisfaction, and revenue lift. It’s time to see the real impact of your marketing efforts.

By embracing the concept of the buying group, using tech to deliver personalized content, and bridging the gap between departments, marketers can rock the complex B2B buying journey. These changes didn’t happen overnight, and now it’s time for B2B marketers to step up and make some serious moves.

Ready to level up your marketing game? Download the report and start wowing buyers in this new era!