Can B2B Marketers Learn from Politicians?

Can B2B Marketers Learn from Politicians?:from Wide Angle by Corey Mull
MLC’s B2B research team is in the thick of our 2013 study for CMOs. More details coming on this shortly – we’ve heard that it’s an absolutely essential topic for the vast majority of senior leaders we’ve talked to, so lots to be excited about there. Today, though, I wanted to dive into one aspect of our upcoming work in particular – as much to get your reactions as anything else.
Here’s what we’ve noticed: despite the rapid proliferation of marketing automation technology – that, theoretically speaking, should do a much better job finding motivated buyers and giving them the information they need to make a purchase – marketers are still unhappy with the end result. Conversion rates, margins, and purchase velocity are all down. We aren’t happy with the number of customers we’re getting from our efforts, we aren’t happy with the price they’re paying, and we’re not happy with how quickly they’re making decisions. (Marketers can be an ornery bunch, huh?)
One of our key hypotheses about this is that the way that most marketers market doesn’t match the way people and groups actually make decisions. Marketers mostly market to B2B buyers by giving them information, right? Sometimes it’s very dry information (a whitepaper, a spec sheet). Other times it’s cool videos about the cloud and stuff. But for the most part we’re giving them information that we hope they subsequently use to make a decision.
But is this missing something? I mean, think about a typical decision where you work. Certainly, information and reasoned discussion plays a big role in why your team chooses a particular course of action. But that’s not the only thing, right? Sometimes an important decisionmaker comes into a process with preconceived notions that won’t be swayed by any amount of data. Sometimes teams have misidentified the problem entirely. It’s the same thing in, say, government: the U.S. government, in particular, is very slow to react to established scientific facts that have public policy implications.
It these things that have led us to think – very preliminarily – that buyers have political needs as well as informational needs. They need to be able to drive consensus within their organization towards a purchase, navigating an interpersonal minefield along the way. And that information alone maybe isn’t too good at driving consensus, that advocates for a purchase within organizations need something else.
It’s in that spirit that I’m asking – what can B2B marketers learn from politicians? Don’t think of the slimy crooks that that word normally conjures up. Think of the master wheelers and dealers – people like Lyndon Johnson, for instance – capable of forging consensus with expert interpersonal skills and the occasional bit of raw power.
How is your company attempting to influence the political environment that corporate decisions are made within? Let us know in comments.