2024 Modern Growth Playbook

The B2B buying journey has changed.

Sales and marketing teams faced significant challenges in 2023.

​

According to Gartner, 71% of CMOs believed that they lacked budget to execute their 2023 strategy.  And a majority of go-to-market (GTM) leaders say their number one challenge is getting high-quality leads, followed by a lack of alignment between sales and marketing that is hurting results.

It's no wonder that so many companies and teams struggled in 2023.

​

But based on the latest research, a winning sales and marketing strategy has emerged that will set you up for success in 2024.

These are the top 5 things you need to understand about the new buyer journey, and how to build a modern growth plan to adapt.

​

Evolving buyer preferences

With the emergence of younger generations entering positions of B2B buying authority, the way buyers choose to learn about your company and enter your pipeline has completely changed.

​

1. The shift towards self-directed research

• 75% of B2B buyers prefer a sales-rep free experience (Gartner)

• B2B eCommerce is more effective than in-person sales (McKinsey)

• 74% of B2B buyers will lean deeper into self-service (IDC)

The majority of buying research will be self-directed, and most of the buying decision will be made before entering your sales pipeline.   As your sales team qualifies new opportunities, understanding what stage of the research process your prospects are in will help them tailor the best approach.

​

2. The growing importance of third-parties

• B2B buyers value third party interactions 1.4x more than vendor interactions (Gartner)

• They talk to their peers, visit reviews sites, and consult with market experts before creating a shortlist of vendors to contact (also known as "dark social" research behavior)

• 48% of winning companies have embraced, and are on, third party marketplaces (McKinsey)

A growing emphasis on partnerships will emerge as a way to gain credibility and prospects from like-minded and complementary companies.  Vendors and service providers will rely on shared platforms and marketplaces in order to expand their reach.

​

3. The impact of social media and digital content

• 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make purchase decisions (LinkedIn)

• Most B2B investments will be in website/digital and content/creative (Forrester)

• The top 5 B2B social media platforms are LinkedIn, X, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram

Your social media presence, and that of your executives, in an important part of the new B2B buyer journey.

​

4. Buyers are balancing quality, cost and spend justification

• Innovation and customer-centric reasons are taking a backseat to quality and cost drivers

• There is now a committee of buyers, all of whom play a slightly different role in purchase decisions

• 43% of B2B buyers say the information needed to justify spending has increased (TrustRadius)

While the customer remains at the center of every world-class company, their reasons for choosing new vendors or services is now more centered around quality and cost.

​

5. Marketing and IT budgets will modestly increase in 2024

• 74% of B2B marketers are expecting their budgets to increase in 2024 (Forrester)

• 85% of technology leaders expect to have larger budgets in 2024 (Forrester)

The contraction cycle is projected to turn around, with lower inflation, larger budgets, and potential interest rate cuts in 2024.  By building a strong foundation now, you can be ready for the market and buyers when they once again increase spending power.

​

The modern B2B growth playbook

Armed with the context behind how the buying journey has changed, you can adapt your sales and marketing go-to-market playbook in order to capitalize on the new market realities.

​

1. Strategic positioning and brand identity

• Use data to clearly define and articulate what problem you are solving and for whom

• Identify what differentiates you from the competition, and how your customers should perceive you

• Create a set of key messages and brand guidelines to be infused throughout every prospect and customer experience

With B2B buyers conducting their own research and making numerous decisions before they ever enter your pipeline, you must ensure consistency and clarity in your key messages and unique style.  This creates the foundation from which the rest of your modern growth strategy will flow.  

​

2. Content marketing and social selling​

• Map your content strategy to each buyer and their role in the buying committee

• Ensure your executives are active in social media, and create a process by which your employees can share and amplify your company and executive messages on their own channels

• Utilize a wide variety of owned channels, leverage your earned media across those channels, and use paid distribution efforts in order to create the reach necessary to grow your business

Both quantity and quality are important in your content and social selling efforts.  Make use of photo and video formats, short and long form written content, and make your content go farther through paid distribution and partnership efforts.  

​

3. Digital and website strategy

• The biggest brand investments in 2024 will be in website/digital and creative/content (Forrester)

• Make sure your pricing is clearly visible on your website or easily accessible in your collateral, and that buyers can buy your product or service directly online (i.e. enable eCommerce)

• Create clear calls-to-action that are mapped to each buyer and their role in the buying committee

Your goal should be to reduce as much friction as possible in both the research and buying process.  Although it can be hard to believe, the reality is that the B2B buying journey looks a lot more like the B2C buying journey in today's world.  Buyers are now comfortable with making very large and important purchases online.

​

4. Partnerships and referrals

• By working together with partners, co-hosting live events and webinars, and extending your credibility and reach through your already-existing network, you gain leverage in a tight market

• Some of your happiest customers can become your biggest advocates, and incentivizing them to refer you to their friends and colleagues is a very cost-effective way to grow

• The halo effect of having third-parties vouch for your goods and services cannot be understated

You must combine your own strategic content approach with that of third parties, in order to be considered a credible source to B2B buyers.  As part of their quiet research and dark social activity, they will look to others for feedback on your brand and company.

​

5. Account-based outbound marketing

• The old approach of buying lists, conducting mass-outbound campaigns, hiring an army of SDRs to do cold outbound at scale,  is no longer producing meaningful results

• The new approach is to carefully determine your target accounts,  deeply research and understand the pain you are solving and for whom (back to strategies #1-3 for gaining valuable insights to inform this process), and realize and respect the person to whom you are reaching out to

• This is where your brand, unique differentiation, content strategy, and social selling all come together in a compelling outbound approach

By combining all of your data, research, digital activity, website behavior, partnership feedback and sales intelligence - you will have a robust perspective into who your best prospects are and who would benefit from the unique value you provide.  Use a holistic, customer-centered approach in order to draw new prospects into your funnel, and expect results to grow over time.  

​

2024 will be a great year

I hope this playbook gives you a solid foundation from which to create your 2024 strategy.

If you would like to work together to build and execute your plan, let's talk!

​

​