The Five Biggest Challenges Facing B2B Marketers in 2013

The Five Biggest Challenges Facing B2B Marketers in 2013:from Marketing Profs Daily Fix by Sharon Hudson
The B2B business world is no longer a black and white world, that’s for sure, and while there’s no one right choice, having multiple good options makes it even more difficult to choose the right one for you.
Which markets do you go after? Where do you allocate your budget? How do you prioritize what comes next?
We recently asked members of our B2B Forum PAC—our Program Advisory Committee—what they consider the biggest challenges and the most urgent choices facing today’s marketers. These smarty-pants marketers put their ears to the ground, so to speak, and returned to voice concerns with common themes.

1. Creating a human voice. Telling brand stories. Choosing a style and a tone and a pace. What does it take to do that in the (insert stodgy industry of your choice) space?
2. Adopting new technologies, services, and processes. In other words, operations. These are choices that keep many a good marketer up at night. And let’s not forget big data (that’s a big one). What is it, anyhow? And is it even a choice for you—or me?
3. Generating leads? Sure. Converting those leads into paying customers? Absolutely. But … surely that’s the sales team’s responsibility, not marketing’s job. Or is it?
4. Retaining customers. Fostering customer loyalty. Then, turning those customers into advocates. Rinse. Repeat. Instantly fabulous. Wait—it’s not always that easy?
5. Generating measurable revenue results. Not just positive ROI on a single program, we’re talking real dollars added to the company’s bottom line. But what’s the best strategy to accomplish that (and how will you prove to your CFO and CEO that success can be traced back to you)?

This year’s program is still in the works, but we hope to cover some of these topics—and many others—at MarketingProfs’ 7th Annual B2B Marketing Forum. That makes joining hundreds of other marketers in Boston on October 10–11 (pre-conference workshops October 9) for the smartest marketing conference of the year a pretty easy choice.