B2B Companies to Marketers: Please Stop the Virtual Events

While Covid-19 upended marketing in virtually all business-to-business industries, a recent survey of 279 US buyers and 121 marketers by Bain & Company and Twitter shows what successful marketers are doing differently. Winning marketers (defined as companies that increased revenue by at least 10% and market share by at least 3 percentage points over the past two years) have concentrated on three areas during the pandemic. First, they have focused resources on marketing to current customers rather than new customers. Second, they have prioritized raising brand awareness through digital channels. Third, much of the content they have disseminated aims to help customers navigate the crisis.

By contrast, lower-performing firms spread marketing resources too evenly, including on tactics such as virtual events. As the pandemic response evolves, marketers will want to understand exactly which tactics and strategic choices earn a high return on investment and which ones bomb.

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B2B Marketers: All the Right Moves in All the Wrong Places

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