Views from Ed Smith, General Manager Marketing at Amazon
In the ever-evolving world of B2B marketing, companies are recognising that the role of the marketer has shifted from traditional campaign management to a more integrated, strategic position that influences everything from product development to pricing and customer experience. As marketing becomes more integrated into business functions, the emphasis on leadership skills, team culture, and data-driven decision-making is crucial for marketers who want to drive sustainable growth. This shift toward a holistic approach and the creation of a feedback-driven marketing culture are central to navigating the complexities of the modern buyer’s journey.
Catering to Complex Journeys: The Need for Multiple Stakeholders and Entry Points
The complexity of today’s B2B buyer journey cannot be overstated. As Ed Smith, General Manager for Integrated Marketing at Amazon, shares in a recent discussion, “Life deals us pretty rank cards from time to time, and our default way to manage that is usually blame, complain, and defend. But we have another option, which is to clock that this is a dud card and think in terms of what’s my next move.” This mindset is vital when considering the increasingly non-linear nature of the buyer’s decision-making process.
In B2B, buyers no longer follow a simple, linear path from awareness to purchase. Instead, they engage with multiple touchpoints across different departments and decision-makers, each with their own set of priorities and perspectives. Marketers must account for this complexity by catering to multiple stakeholders and ensuring there are entry points that reflect the nuanced needs of each individual or team involved in the buying decision.
For example, a marketing team might develop a campaign that speaks directly to the IT department’s concerns around product scalability while also creating content that targets procurement professionals with a focus on cost-effectiveness. Effective B2B marketers recognise that they must segment their content to cater to these different personas at various stages of their respective journeys. This requires a feedback-rich culture, where cross-functional teams collaborate to share insights that reflect the multiple facets of the buyer’s experience.
Prioritise Metrics by Stage: Aligning Your Metrics to the Buyer’s Decision-Making Process
In line with the idea of catering to complex journeys, marketers must ensure that the metrics they use align with each stage of the buyer’s decision-making process. As Ed emphasises in the transcript, “The role of marketing today is to bring together all the pieces of the business to collaborate to solve a problem.” By focusing on metrics that are tied to specific stages—awareness, consideration, decision—marketers can better assess the effectiveness of their efforts and adapt their strategies in real time.
For instance, at the top of the funnel, B2B marketers should focus on metrics such as brand awareness and engagement, which reflect how effectively the business is drawing the attention of potential buyers. As the buyer moves into the consideration phase, metrics like lead quality, product demos, and content consumption become more critical, signalling that the buyer is evaluating solutions. Finally, in the decision phase, B2B marketers should track conversion rates and customer acquisition cost (CAC) to ensure that the sales team is receiving high-quality leads.
By monitoring these metrics at each stage, marketers gain actionable insights into where they need to optimise their strategies and where their resources should be allocated to keep the buyer moving along the journey. It’s about creating a feedback loop where insights from one stage inform tactics in the next.
Integrating Brand and Demand: The Role of Brand Equity in Demand Generation
Strong branding is essential for B2B marketers, not just for awareness but also for driving demand generation throughout the buyer’s journey. Ed Smith also notes that marketers must think beyond just the creative aspects of the job and focus on how they can influence the entire business strategy, saying, “A good marketer in Amazon must be very fluent in business technology and operations…the creative bit comes into that, but it’s not a marcoms role.”
For B2B marketers, this means integrating branding efforts into the demand generation strategy. Brand equity fuels demand at every stage of the funnel, from creating initial awareness to nurturing leads and closing sales. A well-established brand doesn’t just help with recognition; it builds trust and credibility, both of which are crucial for influencing decision-makers.
According to Forrester’s research on the ROI of brand equity in B2B, brands that invest in long-term brand-building activities see higher returns on their demand generation efforts, even in the short term. Strong brands deliver higher lead conversion rates and better customer loyalty, which directly impacts both sales and profitability.
Creating a Feedback Culture to Enable Strategic Marketing Leadership
At Amazon, Smith’s team operates in an environment where feedback is seen as essential to improving performance. In fact, they strive to create a “feedback culture” where teams collaborate and support one another to solve problems. “We are the kitchen of the business,” Smith explains. “Marketing is the only place in the business where all of the family comes together.” This collaborative approach is key to building the strategic marketing leadership of the future.
For B2B marketers, fostering a culture of continuous feedback ensures that teams are aligned on objectives and that every campaign is optimised based on insights from different functions, such as sales, product, and customer service. Marketing leaders must not only manage the creative aspects of a campaign but also lead across departments to bring together the data, technology, and operations needed to drive business growth. By creating this feedback loop, marketers can become leaders who influence the broader business strategy.
Building Better B2B Marketing in a Hybrid World
As companies like Amazon begin to adopt hybrid work models, the challenges of maintaining a feedback culture and aligning teams around common goals become even more pronounced. Smith suggests that a hybrid model of three days in the office and two days working remotely may be the future, but it will require careful planning to ensure teams remain engaged and productive.
For B2B marketers, ensuring that the strategic leadership of marketing teams remains intact in a hybrid environment requires setting clear boundaries between work and personal life. Smith shares that he has implemented strategies to ensure work-life harmony, such as blocking out time in his calendar for relaxation and limiting email access outside of work hours. These practices help him maintain his energy levels and stay focused on his strategic goals.
The key takeaway for B2B marketers is that even in a hybrid world, maintaining strong communication, feedback loops, and alignment with broader business objectives will allow them to lead effectively and drive growth.
Conclusion: The Future of Marketing Is Holistic, Collaborative, and Customer-Centric
As the buyer journey continues to evolve and become more complex, B2B marketers must adapt by fostering a culture of feedback, aligning their metrics to the decision-making process, and integrating brand-building efforts with demand generation. Strong leadership, both within marketing teams and across the business, will be crucial for executing these strategies effectively.
For more insights, explore Forrester’s research on the ROI of brand equity in B2B and Harvard Business Review’s articles on non-linear customer journeys.
By focusing on collaboration, customer-centricity, and long-term growth, B2B marketers will not only be able to meet the challenges of today’s complex marketplace but also set their companies up for success in the future.
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