How To Win With Personalization on a Budget? New Insights From Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo

Do you need expensive technology and large teams to scale personalization? Gartner says no.

Gartner just concluded its three-day marketing symposium where its analysts spoke about how B2B marketers could drive better personalization with account-based marketing (ABM).

Emotion will typically win out over rational thought, according to @NathalieNahaiOpens a new window at @Gartner_MKTGOpens a new window Symposium/Xpo #gartnerMKTGOpens a new window pic.x.com/mH2KurA9aLOpens a new window

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Identifying ABM as a crucial go-to-market strategy, Gartner analysts said 79% of marketers believe that delivering personally relevant content is the most effective way to engage B2B buyers. However, achieving this level of personalization often requires marketers to leverage custom insights, more data, and content – a luxury many marketers cannot afford today. With 44% of B2B marketers expecting budget cuts due to the pandemic, scaling personalization will require a different approach.

Also read: 75 Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Statistics Every Marketer Should Know

“The concept of personalization holds tremendous promise for B2B marketers, especially in today’s environment where delivering hyper relevant content is of utmost importance,” said Rick LaFondOpens a new window , senior principal in the Gartner Marketing practice. “An effective execution of an ABM strategy can help lead to better spend efficiency, and allows marketers to focus personalization efforts on the highest-impact, highest-return opportunities.”

Analysts put forth four methods to help marketers drive better personalization on a budget:

• Focus on Target Accounts: Analysts stated that instead of personalizing for the brand’s entire addressable market, B2B marketers need to prioritize personalization for a select few accounts or segments. By building customer or buyer personas, B2B marketers could accurately identify the traits of their ideal target customer.

Speaking about sales-marketing alignment, analysts also mention that marketers must involve sales when defining target accounts. With the sales team involved, marketers can tap into richer customer insights and earn buy-in for the program. Marketers must also examine data – particularly, account characteristics that led to positive commercial outcomes when determining target accounts.

• Identify Target Account Objectives: To understand their target accounts better, Gartner recommends that B2B marketers ask these questions:
  • At an organizational level – what are the top business objectives or priorities of these customers
  • From an individual level – what are the needs and behaviors of the key stakeholders within those target accounts who have influence over the buying decision
  • From a customer journey level – what tasks do customers have to complete to make a purchase

B2B marketers must also combine these qualitative insights with corresponding data points to gain a deeper understanding of their customers. For instance, behavioral data or customer engagement data can provide valuable insights into the needs of a customer.

Also read: How To Use Google AdWords Effectively for ABM

• Design Personalized Experiences: We have witnessed a subtle shift as brands move away from engagement and focus instead on experiences. In comparison to the experience, engagement comes across as a transactional relationship between marketers and customers. However, experiences go beyond that. Research shows that personalized experiences demonstrate to the consumers that the brand not only knows them but can also improve the likelihood of a high-value purchase by 9%.
• Scale Successful Executions: While technology can be marketers’ strongest ally when it comes to driving personalization, qualitative tactics can also help scale personalization across target accounts. For instance, designing a tiered approach to demand-gen, offering each tier different personalization options, can also prove to be very effective.

“To achieve scale, B2B marketers must always maintain a test-and-learn posture when it comes to personalization, to amplify successful executions, while moving on for those executions that did not achieve desired results,” said LaFond.