Comprehensive guide to building a B2B marketing function

This is comprehensive guide to building a B2B marketing function that aligns with the buyer journey is strategically sound and offers a structured approach to creating measurable business impact. Here’s a concise synthesis of the key components for clarity and ease of implementation:

1. Develop a GTM Strategy

• Set Clear Goals: Align objectives with revenue metrics and pipeline velocity.
• Target Market Segments: Focus on specific clusters and define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
• Craft Messaging and Narrative: Address strategic challenges your product resolves and establish relevance in the market.

2. Conduct Deep Customer Research

• Prioritize key accounts in target segments.
• Interview champions to uncover insights about their buyer journey:
  • Triggers: Events prompting solution searches.
  • Research: Evaluation criteria and vendor expectations.
  • Decision-Making: Influences, stakeholders, and key questions.
  • Product Impact: Highlight KPI improvements pre- and post-implementation.
  • Learning Habits: Preferred platforms, communities, and influencers.

3. Visualize the Buyer Journey

• Recognize that you sell to people, not companies. Different personas (e.g., Champions, Decision-Makers, Blockers) have unique KPIs and motivations.
• Analyze Digital Touchpoints: Map interactions across the buyer’s experience.
• Collaborate with Account Owners: Use historical data to refine journey mapping.
• Create journey visualizations for key roles, ensuring clarity in their paths and pain points.

4. Define Core Marketing Programs

• Develop marketing activities mapped to the buyer journey that:
  • Create awareness and demand.
  • Capture high-intent signals for engagement.
  • Enable champions to advocate internally.
  • Accelerate adoption and maximize product value.
  • Facilitate upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
• Prioritize Quality Over Quantity: Focus on impactful tactics instead of diluting resources across too many initiatives.

5. Assign Roles and Collaborate

• Clearly define roles and required skillsets.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration between marketing, sales, customer success (CS), and revenue operations (RevOps).

Key Takeaways:

• Buyer-Centricity: Understand that the buyer journey is nonlinear and may involve skipped or repeated stages.
• Unified Approach: Collaboration among marketing, sales, CS, and RevOps ensures a seamless experience and maximizes impact.
• Revenue-Driven Marketing: Build strategies and programs that directly contribute to pipeline creation and revenue growth.

By addressing the buyer journey holistically and building a unified team to support it, this approach ensures not only alignment but also sustained growth and customer success.

‍