CMO Viewpoint: What We Learned at B2B Game Changers

Uncertainty. Change. Mental health. These were some of the phrases uttered by nearly all our speakers at Integrate’s annual B2B Game Changers conference this week. In fact, we had initially planned Game Changers 2021 as a series of regional in-person conferences but had to make the difficult decision, as many marketers have done for the last 18 months, to switch to fully virtual once the new virus variants surged. Talk about uncertainty, change, and mental health – especially for my marketing team!

So, it is especially fitting that we addressed these topics at Game Changers, as we all have been living, breathing, and thinking about the uncertainty of the world, how it changes our lives, and how we respond to it. And we will no doubt continue to grapple with these topics in 2022 as our world continues to evolve.

What does it take to change the game? How do we adapt with precision, agility, and connectivity amidst uncertainty and move toward a Precision Demand Marketing world? Below are some great insights from our all-star roster of speakers:

On Uncertainty

• “Growth requires you to stretch beyond into the realm of the uncertain, or perhaps, at least, the unfamiliar. That’s the hard part.” – Apolo Ohno, 8x Olympic medalist and NY Times Best Selling Author.
• “Humans are not wired to tolerate uncertainty well.” – Dr. Jacinta Jiminez, psychologist and leadership coach.
• “We’re entering into this new volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous (VUCA) world of work, but many of us are still holding on to old ways of work. We have to keep up our mental hygiene.” – Dr. Jacinta Jiminez.

On Change

• “43% of buyers prefer a rep-free experience. This number keeps climbing. Buyers are changing how they buy and consume things.” – Craig Rosenberg, Distinguished VP, Analyst, Gartner.
• “Buyer behavior changed immediately as a result of the pandemic. What really changed was how they were buying. We saw our buyers doing their own research and coming to our website and buying directly in a self-serve, online, product-led world, completely bypassing our sellers altogether. Organizations will be forced to think about how they provide an omnichannel buying experience.”  – Cassandra Clark, Head of Global Growth Marketing, LinkedIn Sales Solutions.
• There are two things that have hit home over the past year. And that is friction-less experiences and humanizing the approach. And by humanizing the approach, I don’t mean every transaction needs to go through the seller. It’s critical to be omnichannel and offering them a path to self-serve.” – Jess Weimer, SVP, Revenue Marketing, Podium.
• “I’ve obliterated ABM from the vernacular because it implies that marketing is leading the strategy, and that will never work. We need to be connected to the accounts that sales cares about, understanding the ICP, understanding the accounts they’re going to talk to matters, but if we’re not doing that as a cohesive group, where we’re creating account-based experiences that are designed for the humans within those accounts, then we’re never going to get anywhere.” – Leslie Alore, Global VP, Growth Marketing, Ivanti.
• “Our digital interactions have to be connected and cohesive, especially now where there are extra touch points, larger audiences, bigger buying committees, and more channels to manage. Unless marketers meet buyers where they are in multiple channels at all stages of a buying process, they’ll continue to struggle and continue to struggle to connect.  A buyer-driven approach precision in marketing and markets and empowers marketers to deliver the right message at the right time and for the right buyer.” – Matt Heinz, President, Heinz Marketing.

On Mental Health

• “We have the opportunity to redefine what strength means,” said Apolo Ohno.
• “The five golden principles [from Apolo’s new book, Hard Pivot: Embrace Change. Find Purpose. Show Up Fully] are gratitude, giving, grit, gearing up expectations, and getting after it.” – Apolo Ohno.
• “Burnout happens when there is a mismatch between the nature of our work and our capacities as human beings. The three components of burnout are exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. Burnout isn’t an on/off switch. If you’re not monitoring for it, it creeps up on you.” – Dr. Jacinta Jiminez.

For a deeper dive into our Game Changers sessions and more words of wisdom from our speakers, please check out Game Changers on-demand or follow the hashtag #b2bgamechangers on social.