Back @ IT: Marketing in a Buyer Controlled World with Scott Vaughan

Think about this: Marketing is more than an email. More than a click on a site. More than an automated process. It’s not a joy ride on the back of some marketing solution.

So, why do so many people still hide behind these things? Are they still effective? Yes, but there is more to marketing than marketing automation tools. And, with people ditching the pitch more and more – a buyer-controlled accelerated economy demands that experiences are valued above perks.

Joining me today to get practical and real about marketing is Scott Vaughan, a B2B CMO and go-to-market leader with a belief in collaboratively building businesses, expanding markets, accelerating growth, and developing impactful teams that create value. Further, Scott is an Acceleration Economy Analyst focusing on the Chief Marketing Officer and marketing’s role and contribution to this massive business movement.

Highlights

01:35: Marketing was caught flat-footed during the pandemic. Today marketing has to play a much larger, proactive role in the buyer-seller relationship. The buying process has not flipped to be more buyer controlled, it’s really accelerated.

05:01: Automation, low-code/no-code tools, AI, data companies, tech companies, and solution providers are all flourishing. And, if you want to do business, you have to be more digitally minded, you have to really be able to think about experiences – this is no longer academic.

09:20: Technology is just a piece of the solution. It requires marketers to rethink because marketing has to play that larger and more proactive role. Buyers want to buy on their own timeline and control the process. We can’t just send emails and a three-step automated email and say, “Okay, well, we sent your stuff. Are you ready?”

What never gets lost in this in this acceleration economy is storytelling, and things like showing people, not telling people

12:29: The acceleration economy is shaking up marketing in a great way. Overall, this speed, this idea of experience, and being able to do what’s truly needed – you don’t need to build a heavy infrastructure to support a lot of that.

15:35: Educating buyers in a different sense of not just the solution or the service, but all those periphery things around it that lead up to the decision point. All those things need to be put more front and center.

18:46: Marketing has to reimagine the buyer experience and deepen their market and customer knowledge. Otherwise, you will miss the opportunity because you are not relevant.