The consumerization of B2B technology is dramatically changing how decision-makers research, discover and engage with peers in their journey. During this keynote presentation, author, digital anthropologist and Altimeter Group principal analyst Brian Solis, will uncover the innovative strategies B2B brands are implementing to better adapt to the increasingly complex and cross-channel decision-making experience. Using his own research, analysis and experience with B2B companies as a baseline, Brian will share his perspectives and real life examples of how B2B brands can: -Understand new disruptions in the modern decision-making journey -Humanize the B2B buying experience using more emotive and personalized approaches -How information and peer-insights have evolved in key touch-points -Help buyers manage risk in the selection process

1. Marketing Innovation in an
Era of Digital Darwinism
Brian Solis, Principal Analyst and Futurist
Altimeter, the digital analyst group at Prophet
@briansolis

3. “I love brochureware!”
- Said no B2B customer ever
“I love legal-approved
marketing messages.”

4. From Monologue to Dialogue

5. Viral
Influence
Growth Hacking
Programmatic
Transparency
Algorithm
AI
Omnichannel
Crosschannel
Attribution
Authenticity
Snackable
AR/VR
Infographic Storytelling
Remarketing
Remarketing
Dynamic
Millennial
The language of marketers vs. the language of customers

7. We are not
Our Customers
Executives
Business Outcomes
Costs/Profit
Shareholders/Stakeholders
Scale
Growth
Customers
Professional Goals
Personal Values
Usefulness
Convenience
ImmediacyExperienceDivide

8. I tried to be
innovative, but I
got held up trying
to justify my ideas.

9. For marketers to innovate, takes an
honest and introspective analysis of
to today’s work and standards.

10. B2B

11. B2C

12. B2B2C

13. P2PPeople to People

14. The roadmap
from IQ to EQ to
HQ

15. Change
begins here
and here
and here

16. Business “as usual” is an outdated mindset. Modern
customers are connected and empowered. They want
things NOW and PERSONALIZED in the moments that
matter how they communicate, discover & connect.
NORMAL
THE
NEW

17. OPPORTUNITIES

18. PRIORITIES

19. Businesses that mapped the
customer journey within the
last year.
Down (54%) from 2016.
Roadmaps are developed and
investments are made without
understanding customers.
35%

20. Mobile has changed everything.
People look at their phones 1,500x each week.
They spend 177 minutes on their phone per day.

23. Consumers
expect more
They're over-
informed
Make critical
decisions using
mobile
They rely on
social and
reviews
They expect
answers +
transparency
Generation-C
(Connected)

24. Ladies and gentlemen,
The Cluster Funnel

25. 71% of customers say that inconsistent
cross-channel messaging negatively
affects the experience.
(Forrester)

26. Credibility of CEOs is at an
all-time low, with a 12-point
decline in the last year.
“A person like yourself” is
as credible a source for
information about a
company as a technical or
academic expert.
Source: Edelman Trust Barometer

29. The 90s
called…
They want their
Internet back.

30. “B2B marketing leaders are using
mobile to engage customers…reducing
purchase time and increasing customer
loyalty. Mobile is influencing an average
of more than 40% of their revenue.”
- BCG

31. Innovation is all the work you
do to conform to expectations
and aspirations of people as
they evolve instead of making
them conform to your legacy
perspectives, assumptions,
processes and metrics
of success.

33. The Rise of Advisor Businesses

34. B2B Marketing Experience Lifecycle
“Know Me”

35. The B2B
B2B2C
B2C P2P
Marketing
Innovation
Manifesto
This is a manifesto for
those who believe that
human-centered
innovation is the
heart of marketing
transformation

36. 1. Human-Centered Design: Unbias data to learn…Who are your unique
audiences? How do they talk? What do they value? What are their
immediate and longer-term challenges? What are their
goals/aspirations?
2. Learn Intent+Context: Learn the questions they ask, who they trust,
where they go and understand devices/times/preferences/attention.
3. The Hero’s Journey: Redraw their lifecycle journey and identify key
moments of engagement – design for mobile-first engagement.
4. Marketing as a Service: Beyond sales and account management, partner
with key stakeholder groups to positively affect the entire journey and
relationships.
5. Imagineer P.O.P.E.S.: Prioritize content dev/campaigns across the
journey (video, podcasts, articles, graphics)
The P2P Marketing Innovation Manifesto

37. 6. Scale Personalization and Value: Invest in programmatic, AI platforms
that deliver personalization (right time, right place, right message, right
device.)
7. Influence 2.0: Partner with trusted authorities to collaborate on the
creation and delivery of useful, engaging content.
8. Community Engagement: Assign staff and ambassadors to engage the
front line and incentivize reward their ongoing efforts.
9. Employee Advocacy: Partner with internal authorities to empower
employees to more effectively engage customers and each other.
10.Marketing2: Report results, progress and learnings to all stakeholder
groups. It’s marketing for the marketing!
11.(BONUS) P2P2P: Help customers better engage their customers.
The P2P Marketing Innovation Manifesto

38. Manifesto
Examples

39. User-Centricity
Turning customers and users into
heroes!
Schneider Electric put the creativity of many
B2C campaigns to shame with its customer-
centered message of user empowerment. The
company understood its user, not just decision-
maker. It created a bottom-up approach to
brand awareness and demand-generation.

40. Customer Journey
Re-imagine the customer journey
from the customer perspective:
the team needed to evolve the marketing
program from being inside-out driven and
become buyer centric.
Step #1. Build a strategy based on
customer behavior and intent data
Step #2. Develop personas and respective
journeys
Step #3. Coordinate transformation across
stakeholders
Step 4: Test and learn. Measure and report.
“This transformation has turned marketing
into a true revenue contributor. We've
been able to double the conversion rate
and improve customer experiences.”
- Kira Mondrus, Director of Global Marketing, SecureWorks.

41. Cross-Functional Collaboration
Objective was to shift perceptions of
company from mobile operator to total
communication provider and trusted
strategic partner among senior business
executives.
Marketing and sales partnered to identify
what customers in that vertical/industry
are thinking about, what sales
enablement pieces would help the sales
team guide conversation, what
promotional assets would be needed to
help with a successful inbound campaign.
Marketing as a Service
"Without exception, colleagues across
our business are impressed with the
approach and quality of the content. And
now we’re seeing business generated as
a result - the domino effect is working!"
- Sally-Anne Burwell, senior marketing manager

42. Volvo Trucks Live Test:
Recipient of a Cannes Grand Prix,
Volvo Trucks finds imaginative and
emotion-tugging ways to demonstrate
the qualities of its vehicles – in this
case a truck that can be driven through
buildings, attacked by cranes, rolled
down hills, and still operate flawlessly
at the end of it all.
Already viewed over 14 million times
on YouTube – it proves the power of
social storytelling.
Product Value: Content

43. Did you mean MailChimp?
Customers frequently mispronounce the
company’s name. They decided to create a
campaign to have fun with it while introducing
the brand to corporate and small businesses
alike.
This inspired a collection of cultural activations,
from creating hit singles and a new brand of
potato chips, to starting fashion trends and
making short films about singing sandwiches.
MaleCrimp, MailShrimp, KaleLimp, FailChips,
VeilHymn, SnailPrimp, JailBlimp, WhaleSynth
and NailChamp all have one thing in common:
They sound like “MailChimp.”
Imagineer P.O.P.E.S.

44. Businesses have a finite amount of money
and time and customers have a finite
amount of attention and energy; therefore,
marketers must identify the most connected
people that can to help expand their reach.
- Dr. Bernardo Huberman, Director of HP Labs
Influence 2.0

45. “At [B2B Company], we source the most
relatable and useful stories from our Fortune 500
customers to arm our network of influencers and
creators for peer-to-peer storytelling. Over the
last several years, we’ve paid millions of
dollars to our influencer community with
campaigns across every category. We get that
back and more.”
Influence 2.0

46. Inspiring reviews through online and
real life advocacy
Marketo engaged and rewarded
customers across its live events and
digital channels to encourage them to
submit reviews.
Marketo received 538 net-new reviews.
They also gained the #1 position within
the Enterprise segment and was
dubbed the “Most Reviewed” solution.
Drove majority of new business pipeline.
Community Engagement
“Reviews were our number one
goal when we launched our
advocate marketing program.
Engaging customers across
both physical and online
channels allowed us to get more
genuine reviews and gain a
huge competitive advantage.”
- Danielle Camara, Senior Customer Marketing Manager

47. “Fanatical Support is at the heart of
everything we do and is the ideal that
guides every interaction with our
customers.
Helping employees share on social media
is good for everyone. Employees become
more engaged, expand their social
networks, and build their professional
brands. Your business gets the opportunity
to raise brand awareness, expand its
reach, and attract the best talent.
We have over 300 employees sharing
monthly, generating over $1 million
(annualized) in earned media value.”
Employee Advocacy

48. MANAGEENGAGE

51. Brian Solis
bsolis@prophet.com
Altimeter Group, a Prophet Company
briansolis.com | @briansolis
Linkedin.com/influencer/briansolis | Facebook.com/thebriansolis

52. Help Your Customers
Help customers reach customers:
This is reciprocity in action and an
example of what happens when you
create content to help your customers
with their customers.

53. The concept was developed out of deep
customer research, and oriented around
their specific business goals.
“I think the biggest lesson -- and it sounds
so obvious -- is that when you keep the
customer at the center of everything, it's
your True North. We just kept coming back
to, ‘How do they express their needs?
Where do they place the greatest value?’ It
framed how we would tell the story, and
what we would emphasize.”
- Lauren Flaherty CMO, CA Technologies
Customer-Centric Content