Pivot points from B2B Ignite

This may have been B2B Ignite’s best event ever, which was held on 3rd July at 133 Houndsditch - and in glorious air con.

Already the definitive perennial B2B event, this year Ignite switched up its tone and bravery. Practicising what all good B2B experts preach, the result was indeed better engagement and increased memorability.

Kicking off Richard O’Conner, CEO, B2B Ignite, announced this year’s theme was the ‘commercial marketer’, a reflection on how operationally led the role has become.

The keynote speaker, Susannah Streeter, Head of Money & Markets, Hargreaves Lansdown & Former BBC News Anchor, provided an insightful and hysterical view of the political and economic permafrost in which we’re operating. Her analogy of the CMO as a ‘ringmaster’ echoed throughout the day, as the rockstar marketer of yesteryear feels weighted down by the need to leverage the techstack and talk the revenue language of the CFO and c-suite. With a market hindered stagflation and risk aversion, her call for strategy plans for multiple scenarios was pragmatic. While her reminder of the need for trusted brands that offer guidance was welcomely optimistic.

Refreshingly, the AI word was omnipresent across the day, but clearly positioned as the rail upon which business is increasingly run. With the shiny stampede over, the focus is firmly on how it is being put to good use.

Explode the funnel. The sales-free buying process was put forward, with a focus on 95% of the audience in horizon scanning mode, and by the time you get to the 5% in buying mode the decision has already been made. Sharon Forder, CMO, Sana Commerce (a B2B e-commerce platform) proposes walking away from MQLs to a simpler and cleaner approach based on Accounts Engaged and Accounts Activated, supported by pods (aka small, nimble teams).

Group Decision Buying. While an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) was mentioned on numerous occasions around which to create an ABX approach, more notable was the honesty around dealing with group decision buying. Requiring multiple signals to anywhere from 8-13 people within the buying group, the chat was about the change management and mindset required to pivot not just the marketing and sales teams, but the whole business, especially propositions, to meet the buying group needs.

Creating one voice across function, from brand to demand, Chris Bailey, Ex Global Growth Campaigns, ServiceNow, emphasised the different content requirement to be able to reach the wider buying group. His proposal of 70-80% globally relevant content with the 20% magic tailored for the more local level chimed for many attendees.

Content syndication came across during the day as the new modus operandi, clearly not just for us at Teamspirit. Many of the sessions mentioned the need for better organic search to create the brand stature required to stand out. Whilst response times of c. 3hrs to respond to brand demand feels like a new standard has just been set!

With some end of day light relief with buzzword bingo to remind us to communicate jargon-free, the final session was hearing from Lowri Morgan, Endurance Adventurer & Athlete. Titled ‘Resilience, risk and reinvention’ her spirit for keeping her north star was the perfect authentic and prescient finale.

If you’d like to talk more about how to address the themes and pivot points touched upon here please get in touch fcouper@teamspirit.co.uk