Buyer Perception

Feb 2015

The New B2B Buyer And The Collaborative Economy

In the post-WW II decades through the 1990’s – and for many into the 2000’s, the business and world economy was focused on the mass “push-down” economic model. In simplistic terms, B2B was predicated on mass production and how many mass-produced products can be sold through marketing, sales, and distribution. Fortunes rose or fell based on whether B2B organizations were caught with inventory bloat or inability to meet demand. The post-WW II decade’s spawned market research, sales effectiveness, marketing communications, “push-down” hierarchal organization models, and more. All intended to “push-down” harder and faster than any other competitive organization. Fifteen years into the new…

Article by Tony Zambito

Jan 2015

7 Big Questions For B2B Marketing Leaders in 2015

Another year and more questions facing B2B Marketing Leaders. We are faced with a rapidly changing digital economy and evolving buyer behaviors. Challenging the best plans and intentions drawn up for 2015. Each year begets a new set of questions, which confront B2B organizations and B2B Marketing Leaders. Let us take a look at 7 very pressing questions: Do we really know our buyers and customers? A few decades ago, the famed management guru Peter Drucker stated one of the most important question a business has to answer is: Who is our customer? For CMO’s and marketing leaders, this remains…

Article by Tony Zambito

Nov 2014

Radical Openness And Transparency: A Mandate For B2B Organizations

November 2014 marked the twenty-fifth (25th) anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The tearing down of the barrier separating West Germany from East Germany remains as one of the world’s most momentous events. The fall of the Berlin Wall continues to send out tremors touching many parts of the globe. What many in the world assumed would be a smoothed unification of West and East Germany has not occurred. For example, the former East Germany continues to suffer from rampant high unemployment, less educational opportunities, and poorer healthcare systems. In the same twenty-five years, we have seen the advent…

Article by Tony Zambito

Sep 2014

The Importance of Understanding Context Before Jumping To Solutions

We cannot wait to offer solutions. We have the thirty-second elevator pitch, content marketing, presentations, lead generation, demand generation, sales training, and sales enablement. All designed to be proficient at offering solutions. Some companies can reach a fervent pitch with their marketing and sales in seeking to tell people or companies they have the solution. Sometimes we rush to provide a solution while at other times, we work on an effort with a potential customer crafting a solution over many months. What we can be convinced of is belief we have the right solution. Just what if? What if the…

Article by Tony Zambito

Aug 2014

Humanize Your Brand With Buyer Personas

You cannot fake it. You should not even try. What am I talking about? We have plenty of efforts these days focused on humanizing in B2B Marketing. Which I believe is most definitely a good thing. However, we also have more savvy and knowledgeable customers and buyers in the digital age. And, one thing I can share with all of you based on recent batches of in the field qualitative buyer interviews over the last year is this: Buyers and customers can tell when you are faking it. One Constant Missing Link Over the last year or two, there has…

Article by Tony Zambito

Jun 2014

5 Ways GE Put Human Experience At The Center Of B2B Marketing

Over the course of the past few decades, B2B marketing has been perfecting the art of showcasing products or services. In the pre-Internet days, the focus was on the shiniest and brightest glossy brochure to make products or services look unbeatable. B2B companies resorted to showrooms and customer demonstration facilities. All in the hopes of making their products or services stand out from the pack. This is still happening today in the digital age. Many of today’s B2B organizations still lead with the proverbial – “we are the leading provider of blah blah technology which enables companies to improve effectiveness…

Article by Tony Zambito

Jun 2014

Modern Marketing Is About Human Connection – Not Robots

This year, more than any in a long time, I am hearing a strong backlash to the volumes of emails and content buyers are receiving. In the past eight months, after conducting numerous buyer interviews, this pattern has become so evident; it is as if buyers are screaming at the top of their lungs. In my opinion, there is a cause and effect dynamic taking place in B2B marketing. It goes something like this: The hard adjustment to the new digital economy is putting pressure on B2B companies to grow. Many are jumping on the content marketing bandwagon. This pressure…

Article by Tony Zambito

May 2014

The Future Of Modern Marketing Is Human-Centered

Before the turn of the 20th century into the 21st century, a movement began. This movement called for a more user-centered approach, or also commonly referred to as human-centered, to designing products, software, digital interactions, and design concepts. It is rooted in the belief, which is by understanding human goals and behaviors; we can design concepts empathetic to the user – or humans. More than a decade later, these concepts are becoming increasingly important to marketing. Modern marketing, as it responds to the overwhelming tentacles of the exploding digital economy, now requires the important element of design thinking. With the…

Article by Tony Zambito

Feb 2014

Walk A Mile In Your Buyer’s Shoes With B2B Buyer Ethnography

It began, as history can best record, as a proverb of the Native American Cherokee tribe. Which said, “do not judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.” This proverb had been rephrased, reshaped, and reworded many times as a way to communicate. What matters though, is the truth of this proverb. To truly know someone, you must walk a mile in his or her shoes. Increasingly today, B2B buying decisions are heavily weighted towards perceptions about a brand’s promise and experience. Oftentimes, gaining clues about buyer perceptions and experiences with a brand is not an…

Article by Tony Zambito

Feb 2014

CMO 2014: Is Your Team Executing Content Marketing Or Pitching Content?

The urge is insatiable in B2B. It is wired in B2B DNA. To sell. To market. To push. To blitz. To tell. To pitch. To present. It is like when you turn the key to off on a motor and yet it is still running from the residue fuel and fumes. To stop takes what seems like insurmountable restraint. As much as we like to believe content marketing is an easy way to overcome the “pitch”, this insatiable urge is creating a candy coating over masked content marketing. In this case, when a buyer bites into a masked content marketing…

Article by Tony Zambito