June 5, 2017 | 1 minute read

Deloitte CMO - B2B Marketing Is Becoming (P2P) Person to Person

Passle

This article was actually written a few years ago however I stumbled across it as I was researching effective ways for professionals to execute account based marketing.

It appears Annabel Rake, CMO of Deloitte, was ahead of her time in 2015 when she claimed that B2B digital marketing was becoming 1-2-1 (P2P).

So how can you achieve this, particularly if you are an enterprise?

Authenticity (for long term relationships this is key)
Third person explanations and explain the benefits (not just your functionality)
Be emotional (or empathetic)
Be credible (industry peer examples and testimonials)
Do more events (listening to your targets is priceless and events are the best place to do it, this doesn't just mean more stands!)
Back it up (have a 'homepage' of what you know for targets to verify their conversation with you)
Bespoke marketing automation (once you have acquired the lead through a download or event, start to get 1-2-1)

In summary this firmly relates to account based marketing and all of the above relies on you knowing and understanding your targets.

Put simply, when you meet someone in person you tailor your conversation on their appearance, words, items in their possession etc. Naturally this is difficult online but once you have a few insights begin to use them to your advantage and make your digital conversation just like a physical person to personal conversation.

As Annabel Rake, CMO of Deloitte, put it in the Summit’s keynote session, B2B is becoming P2P (person to person). It seems that as we become ever more reliant on technology there is also a clear and equal need to become more human in a simple, back-to-basics way. Perhaps this goes some way to explaining the increasing demand for vinyl at a time when digital music formats have dominated for so many years? Back in the business world, it’s fair to say that no marketers will dispute the opportunities presented through technology - greater audience insight, more targeted activity, greater measurability, the list goes on. But how do we take advantage of this opportunity and at the same time engage our prospects in a personal way, tap into their emotions and ensure our brands resonate with them more effectively?