Photo Credit: sakeeb via flickr

eMarketer published on August 31st: Does Your Marketing Influence B2B Decision-Makers? — Word-of-mouth is a winner—marketing, not so much.

The article shared important and discouraging insights for B2B (business-to-business) content marketers:

Word-of-mouth is a key driver, with businesspeople looking to friends in the industry and other third-party experts ahead of traditional or digital marketing resources.

Nearly two in five respondents said their professional network was the No. 1 most influential source at purchasing time. Industry experts came in second place, followed by internal influencers. Vendor-supplied content was a distant fourth, with just 14% of responses.

 

I’ll address the B2B content marketing implications later in this post.

For now, let’s dive into two (2) key issues: (1) A B2B buyer’s professional network important influence in the outcomes of six- to seven-figure business deals / complex sales and (2) LinkedIn’s immediate importance in the B2B buyer journey.  (more…)