Building The B2B Marketing Value Chain

Back in university - both in my undergraduate and graduate programs - there was very little attention paid to B2B marketing compared to B2C.? B2B marketing didn't venture too far beyond the 4Ps - product, price, place, promotion (which I have to admit is how I still organize many files in my computer - though I have added process and people over time - looking back, I’m not sure how those two were missing from the beginning!).??

As I entered the business world, I intended to enter a B2C marketing environment in a packaged goods company.? But my curiosity and love for technology quickly pulled me into B2B marketing - where I discovered an entirely new way of thinking, a new set of processes and an ecosystem to match.??

What I love about B2B marketing is the opportunity to think systematically about the products we represent and the market, mining for meaningful value propositions and aligning them to the addressable market to drive campaigns that demonstrate value to the business.??

And while I may have painted this as something novel (because it was to me at the time), in his book “Drucker on Marketing”, Peter Drucker was clear about the importance of marketing as a value creator:

"Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two--and only two--basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business."

For businesses to create value, the innovation team needs marketing to help bring their products to life.? In turn - the marketing organization needs vital innovation as the bedrock of competitive differentiation in messaging and positioning.? When the two work together in lockstep - businesses are poised to grow quickly by leveraging something that I call the “Marketing Value Chain”.

The value chain flows through product, demand creation, demand generation and sales organizations to drive value for customers:?

There are concrete steps that need to be taken at every step of the value chain to optimize how we communicate our value to current and potential customers.? In organizations where I have worked, the biggest challenge lies in the gaps between functions.? Where the baton is handed from one group to the next is often where the value chain is weakest.? These areas deserve the attention of marketing executives - as they are in a prime position to build cross-functional teams to address these challenges.

In addition, several support areas need to be put in place to ensure that the value chain functions efficiently and effectively.

These include:

1. Proper budget tracking - To ensure that marketers are investing their dollars properly across the right mix of channels
2. Martech and systems - including marketing automation, segmentation, and customer data - and collaboration, content, graphics, and AI technologies allow marketers to be efficient and accurate in their output.
3. Partnering with finance:? Going beyond budget ensures marketers understand the ROI their programs and campaigns drive for the business.
4. Aligning with legal and compliance: To protect the brand.
5. Marketing leadership: None of the value chain can be executed without building a strong, integrated marketing organization

Finally, we get to the goal of this activity - to align to and deliver on agreed-upon marketing success metrics - whether top-of-the-funnel awareness metrics or marketing-driven revenue.

Over the coming weeks, I will deep dive into each of these areas - starting with demand creation -? and provide perspective based on my experiences on maximizing the value we get from each.? As I do, I welcome any feedback on the model!??

If you have other items or gaps, you would add / edit / remove. Please connect with me on LinkedIn - always happy to engage with fellow industry professionals!