We recently attended the B2B Summit 2015, hosted by B2B Marketing. Although centred on B2B case studies and best practice, it struck us how similar the issues for both B2B and B2C marketers are, when planning for future success. OLIVER Content Marketing Manager, Carina Jeppesen, discusses ten important mindset shifts for marketing success beyond 2015.

During the B2B Summit 2015, keynote speaker Annabel Rake (Deloitte), asked an important question. Are the skills you rely upon this year going to take you to 2020?

Whether in B2B or B2C, marketers need to think about what they’re going to do to succeed beyond 2015. As recently stated by Russell Parsons, Editor at Marketing Week, “It doesn’t matter whether your business is small, medium or large, whether you invest big or moderately in marketing or whether your business is B2B or B2C, your challenges are broadly the same.”

But will our current skills and focus points translate into success five years ahead?  The below is based on Rake’s presentation on the ten marketing mindset shifts we are currently experiencing.

Changes in the market

From B2B to P2P

More and more we’re seeing a shift from talking about B2B to P2P. Marketing is a person to person exchange. It’s about getting to know clients and customers – what they want and what they need. Ask yourself how you might move from becoming a commodity service or product to becoming an indispensable advisor to your stakeholders?

From workforce to network

Marketers need to stop relying on just their workforce to make things happen. How are you building your company’s network? Connecting to a larger network, i.e. working with charities and creating meaningful partnerships, will become increasingly more important to marketing success in the long run.

From product to purpose

Engaging your workforce and customers has never been more challenging or more important. Millennials are more interested than any other generation about the values of the organisation they work for. What’s your business’ purpose? Move your focus from what you sell to why your brand exists as a business.

Changes in marketing and technology

From consistency to agility

As a marketer, do you let change happen to you, or do you embrace it? How does this compare to your wider organisation? With digital being an important enabler to agility, we need to be better at embracing change. Is your company adapting well to the current changes in your market?

From single marketing to hyper-connected

Now is the time to think differently and not place your customers and clients in silos. Think more broadly about how your marketing messages can include a broader range of expertise. For example, rather than lecture a telecoms business on telecoms best practice, tell them about financial considerations in telecoms as they start thinking about making mobile payments work.

From corporate content to co-creation

Moving back to using your network, how are you using your network to create content that your audience really wants to read? Are you only creating it from the knowledge of one team or are you using your wider business, partners, network and even clients to help co-create content?

Changes in what’s expected of marketing leaders

Moving from being a manager to being a coach

Have you made your marketing vision clear? As a marketing leader/coach, you need to rally people around a vision for success. Then, enable your team to go with you on your journey.

Moving from expert to learner

With so much disruption happening around us, it’s important for marketers to be continuously learning. Seek inspiration from experts on your team or in the wider marketing industry. As a modern marketer, you need more commercial and financial awareness, plus you need to be digitally savvy – making it all the more important for marketers to have a ‘continuously learning’ mindset. Acknowledge that you cannot be an expert in everything.

From CFO to CMO as organisational influencer

The CEOs right hand is changing as more departments report in to the marketing director. With marketers rapidly gaining much more influence, we see more and more CMOs making financial and larger strategic decisions.

Moving from communications to engagement

As the adoption of marketing automation rises, so does the shift in moving from just communicating to really engaging audiences. As marketing automation grows in popularity it becomes easier for marketers to target the right audience at the right time with the right message. What it means to be a marketer is drastically changing as automation software becomes more precise and widespread.

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Want to know more about OLIVER’s mindset and how it can help grow your business? Check out our unique approach or get in touch to find out.