Category: Thought leadership

Signals from the Edge

How AI is reshaping B2B tech marketing

Enterprise tech marketers are in the midst of evolution. Generative AI has moved beyond experimentation to revise standards for building campaigns, distributing assets, and measuring impact. Leading organizations aren’t only adopting. They’re reconfiguring.

At Intercept, we see this shift firsthand across our work with global product, field, and alliance marketers. Pressure to personalize at scale grows. Campaign timelines shrink. Internal stakeholders are wondering about AI speed, quality, and security of production.

Where enterprise marketers stand today

In discovery work, campaign strategy sessions, and innovation pilots, we’ve observed several recurring questions from our client stakeholders:

  • How do we integrate AI into our workflow while protecting our brand and voice?
  • What guardrails should exist between AI acceleration and human creativity?
  • Can we quantify the efficiency AI introduces without overstating its ROI?

Many of these conversations tie directly to budget and scope decisions. Clients no longer ask if AI belongs in the process. They ask how to operationalize it without friction or risk.

From one-off pilots to platform thinking

What began in isolated GPT-assisted tasks is quickly organizing into a fully fledged, AI-shaped campaign system. At Intercept, our process begins with signal scanning driven by AI-powered research. Watchtower is our proprietary research platform using AI to analyze unprompted digital conversations across social, search, and thought leadership channels. It surfaces real-time insight into how enterprise buyers talk, share, and engage each other.

These insights enable more informed campaign design. They help us shape the bill of materials, identify the buyer triggers, and pressure-test our positioning with AI-modeled persona panels. From there, we create content that better targets our audience, within markdown-structured formats optimized for AI ingestion. The result is a library of assets easily indexable for quick access, customization and re-deployment as demand dictates. Want to go deeper? Download our eBook on AI-Powered Research to explore how Watchtower and generative tools are transforming insight development.

AI-ready content is becoming the new default

As enterprise teams build internal AI agents, they rethink how to structure content. Intercept now designs campaign assets pre-formatted for ease of implementation. Markdown syntax, metadata tagging, and modular structuring aren’t bells and whistles; they’re our table stakes. You can think of these as SEO for internal AI tools, classifying and sorting content assets to become instantly searchable, retrievable, interchangeable.

Trust, compliance, and governance are essential

While enterprise clients formalize AI guidelines, procurement teams tighten their expectations of vendors. Legal, compliance, and IT stakeholders are increasingly part of the conversation. More than ever, marketing partners are evaluated based on how they responsibly manage AI workflows, handle data, and maintain tooling transparency.

At Intercept, we’ve adopted a closed-tenant model for AI-powered workstreams and established an internal AI Task Force to lead responsible implementation. Our cross-functional team tests against agency-specific criteria to guide pilot rollout for our teams.

Intercept’s governance protocols match the expectations of our enterprise clients to ensure our AI programs align with their standards for data integrity, brand safety, and IP protection. These include scenario-specific risk assessments, safe experimentation boundaries, and staged change management processes to onboard new tools.

The buying committee has shifted — have your campaigns?

Dynamics of influence inside enterprise tech organizations are reorienting fast. Gen Z and Millennial stakeholders are embedded into buying committees with real sway over vendor selection, content evaluation, and campaign credibility. Their expectations were defined by consumer-grade digital experiences as fast, personalized, and contextually relevant.

Through our innovation center Intercept Labs we’re helping enterprise marketers meet the changing of the guard head-on. Our prototypes incorporate persona signal scanning and pre-launch message simulation to reflect how today’s buyers think, share, and decide. For clients this means better campaign perception and alignment with real-world dynamics.

What’s next: AI in the system as much as the output

Intercept’s approach to innovation is operational, not theoretical. We proactively offer AI-powered alternatives to traditional workflows, helping clients explore safe, smart, and scalable delivery models. Imagine campaigns adjusting to automated signals, seller feedback, or audience drop-off. Consider content engines that generate personalized variation across industry and role. Our philosophy is rooted in co-investment. In many cases, we test and build in partnership with clients who want to lead in their category.

Four signals to watch

  • From pilots to platforms: AI must be built into your workflow, not layered on top.
  • Governance as value driver: Trust, transparency, and security are now differentiators.
  • Dynamic content ecosystems: Campaigns and modular assets can adapt in real time to input signals.
  • Audience simulation pre-launch: Synthetic buyers can validate creative before it ships.

Innovation as shared commitment

Clients early in their AI journeys benefit from our proven, bespoke workflows. For those on the leading edge, we co-invest in novel solutions, prototyping before proving viability. These dual tracks let us investigate what’s next without compromising what works today.

Ready to change?

If you’re exploring structured ways to embed AI into your marketing workflows, enablement assets, or research infrastructure, let’s talk. We offer AI use case-mapping workshops and capabilities briefings tailored to product, field, and alliance teams, from pilot to platform.

For a deeper look at adoption patterns, emerging tools, and internal barriers across the tech marketing ecosystem, download our latest Q2 Trends Brief: AI in B2B Marketing.

About Signals from the Edge

Signals from the Edge is Intercept’s executive insight series, designed for marketing leaders inside global technology organizations. Each edition captures practical implications at the intersection of AI, audience behavior, and go-to-market execution.

As a specialist agency serving enterprise tech brands, Intercept brings a unique vantage: we work with product, field, and alliance partner teams on modular content ecosystems to deliver programs at global scale. Signals from the Edge is our dispatch from the frontlines.

Boost Your B2B Content Engine with AI: How Jasper Can Help

B2B marketing teams that are doubling down on generative AI are seeing big results. According to McKinsey, AI high performers are 2X more likely to use the technology to generate new business or launch additional revenue streams.  

They are not using AI primarily for cost-cutting or supporting a scarcity mindset. Instead, these organizations recognize the potential for AI to drive innovation, explore untapped markets, and grow the business.

Ready to embrace a growth mindset? Keep reading for insights on how Jasper can help you elevate the quality of your content at scale.

Why Our B2B Marketing Agency Chose Jasper 


With platforms like ChatGPT, you must repeatedly train it with the desired context to get a meaningful output. Whereas with Jasper, you can set it and fine-tune it over time.

Here are three of our favorite built-in capabilities that make producing on-brand, on-point content faster and easier.

Brand Voice

Jasper’s “Brand Voice” feature analyzes content and stores a description of it to be applied for later use. You can think of it like a saved prompt, albeit a bit more sophisticated, that ensures everything Jasper generates adheres to the correct tone, perspective, and knowledge level.

The Brand Voice functionality eliminates the need for repetitive inclusion of background details in your prompt. By applying any voice or knowledge entry to your content, you can provide Jasper with background information to generate on-brand content about your topic. 

Prompt Support 

The prompt enhancer built within Jasper is a feature that helps you get better results from the AI. It does this by adding a few sentences before your actual prompt to guide the AI in the direction you want.

For instance, if you’re looking to write an informative blog post about the use of low-code/no-code platforms in application development, you might enhance your prompt like this: “Write a detailed yet easy-to-understand blog post that explains what low-code and no-code platforms are, their differences, and how they have revolutionized application development. Include real-world examples and discuss their pros and cons.”

The prompt enhancer doesn’t change the content of your output, but it provides clearer instructions to the AI about what you’re looking for, which can result in more relevant and high-quality content. It’s like giving the AI a more detailed brief before it starts writing.

Quick tip: Always review and edit your newly generated prompt after you use the enhanced prompt function.

Style Guide Creation 

Create a style guide that includes helpful terms, proper grammar and punctuation, capitalization rules, and quick ways to find and replace words. Once inputted into the Knowledge Base, Jasper can easily apply it to every piece of content you produce. 

Using Jasper to Feed Content-Hungry B2B Buyers

One of the biggest challenges for B2B marketing teams? Not having enough high-quality content.

We conducted a study with 500 business and IT decision-makers in the United States and Canada, and the results were clear. They expressed a strong desire for more content. 


Additionally, B2B buyers spend less than 20% of their time meeting with potential suppliers.1 Most of their time (81%) is dedicated to consuming content, conducting independent research, and engaging in discussions with the buying committee.2  

The point is that you need more content than you might initially think. Simply having someone download your eBook is not enough; you need a robust lineup of content to support the buying journey. Jasper can help with this. In our experience, it excels with mid-form and long-form content. Some of the formats we use it for include blog posts, emails, website copy, and eBooks/white papers.

Get More Mileage from Hero Assets with Gen AI

We also use it for something we refer to as “derivative assets” or repurposed content.

Most of our clients have a hero asset. We help them maximize its potential by using Jasper to create alternative formats leveraging the same core content.  For example, if you conducted a research study and used it to write an eBook, there’s much more content there than just one eBook.  

With Jasper, we can create additional assets that break the content into bite-sized pieces for emails and snackable content for social media posts while maintaining your brand’s voice, knowledge base, and style guide. 

Most B2B marketing teams are losing prospective clients due to a content gap. We know the ins and outs of Jasper and can help you fill that void with consistent, efficient, and effective content. 

If you’re interested in leveraging gen AI in B2B marketing and are wondering where to start, let’s have a conversation. 

To view some of our award-winning campaigns with enterprise clients, check out our case studies page. 

1Gartner, Gartner B2B Buying Report, 2023.

2Forrester, Accelerate Your Buyer’s Journey By Dynamically Curating Relevant Content, 2021.

Jasper Names Intercept a World-Class AI Marketing Agency Partner

“Now is not the time to wait and see. ‘Marketing’ has been given a new superpower. The question is, what will I do with it?”

Andrew Au, Managing Partner at Intercept

Jasper recently announced their list of world-class marketing agencies for their AI Solutions Partner Program, and we’re proud to say Intercept is among the global top 20.

To earn this accolade, we focused on B2B marketing in the global tech sector. Our deep understanding of generative AI (gen-AI) and its transformative potential set us apart.

Becoming a recognized leader in gen-AI marketing

Our AI journey started in 2017 with white papers and eBooks that explored possibilities for Big Tech clients. As early adopters, we leveraged AI tools internally for content creation and testing. Microsoft’s investment in Open AI validated our path, spurring further exploration.

By early 2023, we expanded into other gen-AI platforms like ChatGPT, DALL·E, and Midjourney, focusing on textual and text-to-image capabilities. Our comprehensive research evaluated tool functionality alongside data privacy and security. This led to a curated suite of tools, each chosen for their unique strengths, from infographic design to analytics insights.

In this mix, Jasper became a central tool in our approach to marketing, excelling in several areas:

  • Output consistency
  • Data privacy
  • Content control
  • Mitigating hallucinations
  • Maintaining a consistent knowledge base

Tailored Jasper solutions for every need

We understand that every business is at a different stage in adopting and leveraging gen-AI technology. Whether you’re looking to take full control in-house or prefer a fully managed option, we offer a spectrum of Jasper-related services.

  1. Bring Jasper in-house: We provide comprehensive guidance to jumpstart your Jasper journey, specializing in training models, building knowledge bases, defining brand voice, and optimizing naming and tags. This package includes all the guidance and support your marketing team needs to access Jasper’s capabilities with confidence.
  1. Gain hands-on control with expert support: This offering combines the automation power of Jasper with our agency’s expertise.  We help build your in-house capabilities by providing comprehensive training, strategic guidance, and tailored copywriting support.
  1. Stay hands-off and focused on strategic priorities: In this full-service offering, we handle everything – from turnkey license management and setup configurations to campaign strategy and content production.  You’ll gain the peace of mind that comes from having an award-winning B2B agency managing your marketing needs, ensuring efficient and impactful results.

Embracing the gen-AI revolution

“The new program is purpose-built to incorporate AI functionality into marketing workflows, removing the barrier to experimentation and disrupting the traditional hours-based model with a move towards value-based pricing.”

Al Biedrzycki, Director of the Solutions Partner Program at Jasper

If your organization is not keeping pace with AI, then it’s falling behind. This isn’t about job loss; it’s about job evolution. Using gen-AI purely as a content factory is not enough. The real opportunity lies in a strategic, creative, and critical approach.

The landscape of outsourced services is changing too.  As traditional hourly billing makes way for value-based pricing, a shift in mindset becomes vital for future partnerships.

Navigating data security, ethics, and bias

“People often think of humans as unbiased and rational, whereas machines are seen as more biased. But in reality, human bias is harder to spot.”

Andrew Au


Unconscious bias is part of human nature, whereas gen-AI biases are more identifiable and correctable. Legal complexities in copyright laws present challenges, but major tech companies are stepping in with legal support. At Intercept, we navigate these intricacies with care, ensuring our clients are well-informed about content ownership.

Transparency in AI use is non-negotiable. We have established AI policies, and our contracts clearly outline data confidentiality and proprietary information. We chose Jasper partly for its robust data privacy and security, aligning with our operational framework.

By adhering to ethical guidelines and security protocols, we offer our clients a stable and reliable gen-AI experience.

AI is a co-pilot, not an autopilot

Relying on AI as a form of autopilot is a sure way to crash. It excels in supporting, but not replacing, human reasoning. Strategic planning, critical thinking, and creativity should remain in human hands.

Human oversight is also crucial for course corrections and model refinement. A meticulous human-led review process ensures alignment with strategic goals, brand identity, and client expectations

The near and long-term impact of gen-AI

Currently, gen-AI shines in extracting key details from complex documents. In the short term, it’s set to boost transactional communications, like automated webinar invites and thank you messages.

Long term, we see immense potential in text-to-image platforms. The current challenge is producing on-brand content efficiently. Our experience involved generating 400 AI images to find a starting point. These platforms are promising but still evolving.

Platforms like Jasper are leading the gen-AI revolution – disrupting traditional methods of campaign setup, content analysis, and optimization.

If you’re looking to harness gen-AI for growth and are wondering where to start, let’s have a conversation.

To view some of our award-winning campaigns with enterprise clients, check out our case studies page.

How B2B Tech Brands Can Stand Out in a Cluttered Digital Environment

The B2B marketing landscape is more competitive than ever.

Economic instability and the emergence of new players mean more vendors are competing for tighter budgets.

And more than half of business and IT decision-makers plan to consolidate the number of vendors they work with to streamline their environments. If you want to make the cut, you need to stand out.

To help B2B marketers navigate these challenging waters, we surveyed 500 business and IT leaders across North America to learn about their marketing preferences and what they look for from vendors.

Here are five findings that can help you gain an edge in today’s hyper-competitive B2B market:

1. AI can make your marketing efforts more efficient and impactful.

The availability and accessibility of user-friendly AI tools is transforming how marketers work and engage with customers. Here are a few ways you can leverage AI:

  • Improving the chatbot experience by providing customers with human-like responses and contextually relevant content.
  • Acting as a virtual assistant who helps you with customer and content research.
  • Analyzing customer behavior and preferences to help you improve your omnichannel experience.
  • Creating quality content faster with generative AI tools.

With AI technology developing so rapidly, there are many potential processes to implement within your marketing and sales teams. 

2. B2B buyers want more content, but it better be personalized.

More than 60% of B2B buyers will ignore content that isn’t personalized to their interests, industry, or role. If your content is generic, they won’t pay attention.

You must understand who is looking at your content and what information they require during each stage of their buying journey. You also need to consider everyone involved with the purchasing process and their content needs. B2B buying teams include members across departments such as IT, finance, procurement, and operations. Each decision-maker looks for different things when making a purchase.

The Nology report found that business buyers are interested in perspectives on the future, straightforward tutorials, actionable takeaways, and professional development content. As an example, IT buyers want analyst insights, industry trends, and product information. To win business, you must address each buyer’s specific needs in your content.

But creating content for all these audiences may not take as much time as you think. New tools, such as generative AI, enables content personalization at scale. AI can assist with new content creation or adapt your existing content for different personas.

3. Shorter content isn’t always better.


You’ve likely heard that B2B buyers are busy and don’t have time to read an e-book or watch a lengthy video. Despite the rise of short-form content, most B2B buyers still prefer longer content. They sometimes perceive shorter content as lower quality, while longer content as more educational.

We asked business and IT leaders about their content length preferences, and this is what they told us:

  • Case studies: 2,000-3,000 words
  • eBooks: 2,000-3,000 words
  • Solution briefs: 300-900 words
  • White papers: 1,200-1,800 words
  • Guides: 1,200-1,800 words
4. Webinars are becoming more interactive and data driven.

B2B buyers still look for and engage with webinars. But their preferred webinar format has shifted. Instead of listening to one presenter, they prefer multiple speakers or panels since different viewpoints give them a greater understanding of a topic. They also like practical insights, deep dives into topics, and customer success stories that show them how to apply a solution in real life.

Interactive elements—such as polls and breakout rooms—can help you engage webinar audiences. And new technologies, such as AI, are transforming the webinar experience. You can use AI tools to track audience sentiment throughout a webinar and identify which moments are the most engaging. This data can help you improve future webinars to make them more appealing to B2B buyers. AI tools can also produce captions, subtitles, summaries, and transcripts to give audiences a better experience. Another trend is global webinars. Opening your webinars to a global audience can help you reach more customers and expand into different regions.

The preferred webinar length is between 30-60 minutes. Any longer is too long, and any shorter may not provide buyers with enough value to tune in.  

5. Enable sales reps with the content that B2B buyers want.

B2B buyers no longer rush to speak with a sales rep when they have a need. According to Gartner, they only spend 17% of their time meeting with suppliers. The bulk of their buying process includes independent research followed by reviewing potential vendors with their buying committee. A buyer will only reach out after they have done their research and are getting ready to make a decision.  

When B2B buyers reach out, they expect certain types of content to help them make an informed decision. The top four types of content that B2B buyers want from sales reps include:

  • Product or solution demos
  • Special programs or promotions
  • Solution content (e.g., brochures and sell sheets)
  • Case studies

You must align with your sales team to learn and develop the types of content that will help them close more deals.

Competition in the global B2B tech space is fierce. Not only do you need to differentiate yourself from other vendors, but you must overcome the status quo.

Intercept can help you stand out and deliver relevant content to the right buyers at the right time.

Ready to engage global B2B tech buyers? Get in touch with us now.   

The Future of B2B Marketing: Insights and Findings from 500 B2B Tech Buyers

The B2B marketing landscape has changed.

Factors such as increased competition and economic instability have made sales cycles longer. Buyers face so much low-quality marketing content that they’re starting to tune out most messages. In our quest to help B2B buyers connect better with today’s customers, we surveyed 500 business and IT leaders across North America to learn about their marketing preferences and what inspires trust with vendors.

Here are the top five findings from Nology – State of B2B Marketing for Global Tech report:

1. B2B buying committees are changing.

B2B buying has always been a team sport. But now, there are more players and content involved than ever before.

According to Gartner, the typical B2B buying group includes six to ten decision-makers in every purchase, including procurement, finance, IT, and operations team members.

Each of these buyers self-educates and gathers four to five pieces of content. Then, they get together with the group to recommend and select vendors. Gartner found that 80% of the B2B buying journey involves independent research followed by group discussions.

Each buyer has unique needs and perspectives based on their background or role. This means that B2B marketers must create content that addresses the needs of everyone involved with a buying decision. For example, procurement is less interested in cloud innovations, but do take notice when discussing the pay-as-you-go cloud model and how that will help maintain their budget. To win business, marketers must match the right message with the right buyer.

2. Millennials are making critical buying decisions.

Workplace demographics are shifting, and so are decision-makers. Millennials now fill more than 11 million managerial positions in the U.S. and are responsible for making key purchasing decisions.

LinkedIn refers to these rising B2B leaders as “BETAs (Blurred, Evolved, Technology, Activism).” According to a LinkedIn study, 74% of BETAs are involved with their companies’ buying decisions. They have ultimate decision-making power across various purchases—from IT to employee perks.

LinkedIn also states that since this group has driven vast changes in consumer behaviors, they will do the same in B2B. Research shows that 81% of today’s buyers prefer digital channels over face-to-face. Meanwhile, 63% disregard content that’s not personalized to their interests, needs, industry, or role. BETA buyers want to self-educate, and your content must make this process easier for them by addressing their specific needs.

3. Professionals want more options with events.

In-person events are on the rise, as 63% of marketers plan to host them throughout 2023-2024. This comes with excitement from professionals who are excited about the networking and learning opportunities that these events offer.

However, more than 80% of business and IT leaders prefer the flexibility offered by hybrid events with both in-person and virtual components. A hybrid event can make attendance easier for busy professionals who can’t travel or take time away from the office. They also allow marketers to reach a global audience.

But, with so many virtual event options, event organizers must go above and beyond to ensure their experience is “worth it” for people who attend in person.

4. Opt-in forms will be a thing of the past.

Lengthy forms have long deterred buyers from opting in for B2B content or scheduling product demos. And, with better options available, 34% of decision-makers expect forms to disappear altogether from vendor websites by 2024.

But how do B2B marketers collect information about leads without forms?

Enter the chatbot. More than 70% of B2B buyers have used a chatbot when evaluating solutions. Many found this experience quick and convenient over filling out a form.

With generative AI, the chatbot experience is improving. Generative AI can provide customers with human-like responses and contextually relevant content by predicting customers’ questions based on how the conversation is flowing.  

5. AI will review and recommend your solutions.

AI-powered buying is on the rise. By 2024, 76% of IT buyers and 67% of business buyers feel AI will play a significant role in selecting technology for their organizations.

So, what will this look like? Buyers can use AI-enabled procurement processes to search, analyze, and recommend vendors. Some procurement platforms are already starting to incorporate AI to automate sourcing, provide spend analysis, and assess supplier risk factors.    

The B2B marketing landscape has dramatically shifted and will continue to do so. To connect with today’s buyers, B2B marketers must adapt to speak to the right audience with the right message, meet the shifting millennial demographics, prioritize preferences towards hybrid settings, and use AI across all facets of B2B marketing. This means learning more about buyers’ current preferences and making decisions based on data, not guesswork.  

Get more insights into what today’s B2B buyers want from marketers. Download the Nology – State of B2B Marketing for Global Tech report now.

Conversational AI

Conversational AI

The Future of Conversational AI for Product Marketers

The buzz around OpenAI’s ChatGPT and the surge in experimentation across various generative AI use cases signify the incredible advancements in conversational artificial intelligence (AI).

This innovation is driven by the fusion of foundation models, knowledge graphs, and human-supported reinforcement learning. Over the next three years, these AI techniques will dramatically transform the intelligent capabilities of software and advanced virtual assistants (VA).

As a product marketing professional, it’s important to stay on top of these trends and understand how they can give you a competitive edge. In this blog post, we’ll explore how generative AI and foundation models are shaping the future of conversational AI.

Foundation Models: A Major AI Advancement

Foundation models are one of the most significant advancements in AI technology. These models are created by training a neural network on vast amounts of data, allowing it to learn patterns and make predictions. They represent a major AI advancement and are transforming the intelligent and conversational capabilities of software and advanced virtual assistants (VA).

However, it’s important to note that foundation models should be explored as a potential technology in combination with other AI-developing techniques, such as knowledge graphs and reinforcement learning. As a product marketer, it’s important to explore custom large language models (LLMs) to prepare for organizations’ accelerated acceptance of intelligent software and VA.

Generative AI: Increasing Perception of Intelligence

On the other hand, generative AI is a technique that uses machine learning to generate new data that resembles the training data. It’s a powerful tool that can be used to create content, personalize customer experiences, and even develop AI avatars that can assist with digital and marketing communications.

The use of generative AI will expand in the next two years, and Gartner predicts that generative AI will create more than 30% of marketing content that’s human-augmented by 2025. By incorporating generative AI and foundation models around specific areas and utilizing a Markov decision process-based approach, product leaders can create successful product strategies and gain a competitive edge in the market.

Applications to Multiple Industries and Domains

The use cases for conversational AI are expanding across multiple business domains and industries, from content marketing to new intelligent search options, AI avatars, and decision intelligence. As a product marketing professional, it’s important to examine NLP-related startups to help identify new opportunities for innovation.

It’s predicted that by 2025, more than 50% of advanced virtual assistants (VAs) will be industry-domain-specific, up from less than 25% in 2022. Industry-domain-specific VAs are designed to assist people within a specific domain, such as healthcare, banking, retail, or legal. They can also incorporate fine-tuned, domain-specific language models, prebuilt integration with relevant enterprise applications, and connection with business processes.

The Next Steps for Product Leaders

As a product marketer, it’s essential to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with these emerging technologies.

Accelerating your solutions toward becoming more generative AI-enabled, complementary to existing search solutions, and enabling real-time neural machine translation is crucial. Additionally, humanizing internal and customer communications with AI avatars based on text-to-video generative AI technology is an area of significant opportunity. To elevate the business value of emerging technologies like conversational AI and advanced VAs, technology providers can uncover a promising future.

The Importance of Customer Experience in B2B Marketing

The Three Elements of a CX State of Mind 

Marketers know that we are living in the experience economy. It’s a shift that has been happening for more than 20 years – since Starbucks gave us comfy seats in which to drink our coffee and Apple changed the way we think and feel about electronics. Today, customers demand more than simply good value. They want a memorable experience surrounding them before and after they make their purchase. They expect more.     

A report by PwC found that 65% of customers are more influenced by a positive experience with a brand than they are with a slick and savvy marketing campaign. Forty-two percent say they are willing to pay more for a great experience. Certainly, this is true about customer experience in the context of B2C. A great experience builds loyalty, inspires word of mouth, and generates social media buzz. Only lately have companies begun to realize that customer experience (CX) is equally vital to B2B. 

Think of it this way 

If a customer has a negative experience with a consumer brand and ultimately leaves, that company may lose one or a handful of customers. It’s not good for business, but the impact is relatively small. In contrast, losing a B2B customer is a big deal. Acquisition costs are higher, sales cycles are longer, and the lifetime value of each customer is much larger. Losing one B2B customer to a negative experience could have huge consequences across the entire organization.   

What does CX mean for B2B? 

Always ready to jump on a trend, B2B marketers have begun to think more about CX. With the combination of technology and customer data at their fingertips, they can more effectively target prospective customers, providing timely and relevant offers at the right time. But does that qualify as CX? Maybe, but it’s only the beginning.   

According to SAP, 80% of CEOs think their organizations provide excellent CX. Unfortunately, only 8% of customers agree. The disconnect indicates that companies don’t really understand what CX means in a B2B world. Personalized content marketing is just scratching the surface. CX is about solving problems, satisfying a need for information, and ultimately being helpful in every interaction with your company. Within the buyer’s journey, that means building mental availability [LINK to Long Game Demand Gen Blog] at the awareness stage, delivering a steady diet of informative content tailored to every role on the buying committee, and leveraging intent to provide timely outreach.    

Three elements make CX possible 

B2B marketing teams can adopt a CX state of mind and excel at creating CX. Creating the environment to do so requires three elements that you may already have in your organization today – the right marketing technology, team-based processes, and the deep knowledge of your people. 

Martech makes it all work 

According to the now famous Marketing Technology Landscape supergraphic, more than 8,000 marketing technology tools were available in 2020. A new study puts that number at over 9,500 in 2022. Marketers are collecting more data on all aspects of the buyers’ journey than ever before. Yet, most marketers aren’t satisfied with their data, and wonder if they are leveraging it fully. That’s because there are too many questions about data quality and too many sources of data to manage.     

Employing a customer data platform (CDP) ensures that customer data lives in one place and is accessible to other systems. CDPs pull data from other platforms, combining it to create a single customer profile and use predictive technologies to spot buyer intent and anticipate customer needs that mere humans may not detect. As CDPs mature, they are leveraging AI and machine learning to clean data as it is pulled in, addressing that other martech data problem – quality. Without it, making decisions based on CDP insights is a tough sell. However, with unified customer data and a well-designed martech stack, marketing teams can use the insights to design positive customer experiences.   

Processes allow ideas to flow 

Now you have the data and the insights. How do you use them to build a better experience for your prospects and customers? Many companies and marketing teams are still working in siloes and rigid roles (think social media manager, demand gen marketer, customer marketer.) Everyone has their specialty, and everyone has their own objectives. That kind of structure makes it very difficult for marketing teams to keep up with the fast pace and rapid change of modern business.   

The CX state of mind requires rapid innovation and feedback from sources, sometimes beyond the marketing team. Sales, marketing, customer success, and product all need to work together to make CX a reality. Think about it like a basketball team. Each player has individual strengths that you can leverage to beat your opponent. As you play the game, players may be substituted on and off the court as they are needed to lend their particular expertise to the game. The basketball model is much like the non-linear workflow modern companies use to improve their speed and agility. In other words, the siloes need to be removed to allow for more cross-functional collaboration. People across your organization have unique perspectives and ideas about CX. Removing the barriers to working together encourages them to be innovative.  

People make the real difference  

While martech helps identify opportunities for improving CX and the right processes set teams up with the agility and speed they need, one more critical piece is sometimes overlooked. People are the richest source of customer data available to your organization. Therefore, in an organization’s quest to be CX-focused, people need to be encouraged and empowered to think the same way.  

Help them do what they do best by ensuring that marketing teams have the tools and processes they need. Give them the power to be creative and encourage the development of new skills that ultimately evolve into new roles and organizational capabilities. Most importantly, give people a voice in designing the customer experience – because they know your customers best.    

CX drives growth 

Customer experience was once regarded as the territory of consumer products and services. That’s no longer the case, and B2B companies are waking up to the idea that making customers feel special can also extend to B2B relationships. The good news is that the three elements necessary for executing on a CX mindset may already be present in your organization. A well-designed tech stack, a capabilities-based model for structuring teams, and employees empowered to use their knowledge can come together to build something special. The experiences they create will consistently delight your customers at every turn – building loyalty, advocacy, and driving growth.