In the world of B2B marketing, the notion of marketing to a single lead is becoming increasingly outdated. For years, the traditional approach focused on individual leads or accounts, but this strategy fails to acknowledge one crucial truth: B2B purchases are rarely a solo decision. Instead, they are made by a group of stakeholders, each with their own perspectives, priorities, and roles. Understanding group dynamics and adapting your marketing approach to cater to these decision-making units (DMUs) is key to crafting more effective, precise marketing campaigns.
In this context, buying-group marketing—targeting the decision-making team rather than individual leads—emerges as a far superior strategy to the conventional Account-Based Marketing (ABM) approach, which often treats entire accounts as a homogeneous unit. Let’s dive into why understanding group dynamics can revolutionise your B2B marketing and make it more effective.
The Flaws of the Traditional Lead Model
While martech has evolved rapidly over the past decade, the fundamental way we approach B2B marketing still revolves around targeting leads. However, as Eric Dates pointed out in his recent MarTech article, “How the Salesforce Lead Object broke B2B marketing (and how to fix it),” structuring customer relationship management (CRM) tools around individual leads is inherently flawed. The problem lies in the fact that the lead model doesn’t reflect the true nature of B2B purchasing, which is a team effort involving various stakeholders.
In many organisations, especially those making high-value, high-involvement purchases, decisions are made by a committee—often called a buying group or decision-making unit. Treating an entire account as a single unit and focusing on individual leads ignores the complexity of the buying process, where different committee members hold different levels of influence.
“Treating an account as a single unit often overlooks the reality that decisions are made by multiple stakeholders, each with their own motivations,” explains Mike Maynard, B2B marketing expert. The traditional ABM model fails to address the nuanced roles and expectations of these stakeholders, making it a less effective approach.
The Power of Buying-Group Marketing
When you move beyond targeting individuals to focusing on buying groups, your marketing becomes far more relevant and impactful. A buying group consists of various roles, including initiators, influencers, decision-makers, and approvers. Each member has a different perspective and, therefore, needs to be approached with tailored messaging that speaks to their specific concerns.
For instance, technical stakeholders might focus on product specifications, while financial decision-makers may care more about ROI or budget constraints. A successful marketing strategy needs to address these varied priorities simultaneously. Mapping out these relationships and roles within a buying group allows for a more cohesive, comprehensive marketing approach, rather than one that targets individuals in isolation.
“When you map relationships within a buying group, you’re ensuring that your marketing speaks to all the people who influence the decision, not just one person,” says Maynard. This approach acknowledges that many stakeholders may never take actions like filling out a form or engaging with your content, but they still play a crucial role in the buying process.
The Reality of Decision-Making at Large Enterprises
The complexity of buying decisions only increases when you’re selling to large enterprises. These organisations rarely act as a single, cohesive entity. Different departments, business units, and even geographical regions often have conflicting interests and priorities. For example, while one division may be loyal to your brand, another may prefer a competitor’s solution. This internal fragmentation makes it ineffective to treat a large organisation as a single account.
The best B2B companies recognise this fragmentation and break down each account into smaller, more targeted buying groups. “The goal is to identify distinct buying groups within the same account, based on geography, function, or even project teams,” explains Maynard. Companies that use buying group marketing to segment their accounts can focus on the behaviours and needs of these smaller groups, creating a much more tailored and effective approach.
Simplifying Buying-Group Marketing
At first glance, identifying and targeting buying groups might seem complex. However, in practice, it’s often straightforward. Many sales teams already have the insights needed to identify the key stakeholders within a particular account. Whether based on function, project, region, or department, sales teams can often segment an account into distinct groups that each have their own unique set of needs and priorities.
By targeting these groups individually, rather than trying to target the entire account, businesses can create more focused and meaningful campaigns. “Instead of trying to engage with an entire organisation, buying group marketing focuses on what’s most important to each group within the account,” says Maynard.
This approach, while more granular, simplifies your campaigns. Instead of trying to get everyone within an account to engage with your content, you focus on the decision-makers that matter most. The key is finding the “Goldilocks zone” for each account—not too broad, but not too narrow either.
Bridging the Gap with CRM Systems
As businesses increasingly embrace buying-group marketing, the question arises: why do so many CRM systems still rely on outdated lead models? The traditional lead-based approach in CRM software has held B2B marketers back for too long. “There’s a disconnect between modern marketing needs and CRM tools, which are still built around outdated models,” says Maynard. This mismatch between martech capabilities and B2B marketing realities often hinders progress.
Fortunately, with the right data in place, marketers can begin transitioning from lead-based marketing to buying-group marketing. By assigning personas to each member of the buying group and using personalised messaging for each group, you can create campaigns that resonate with the unique priorities and pain points of each stakeholder.
Why Buying-Group Marketing Works
Ultimately, B2B buying is not a solitary decision. Companies are made up of multiple decision-makers, each with a different role in the purchasing process. “Targeting individual leads in isolation is ineffective because it ignores the reality of how decisions are made,” says Maynard. Buying-group marketing, on the other hand, acknowledges these group dynamics, offering a much more effective and precise approach to B2B marketing.
While ABM may still have its place in certain contexts, it falls short when it comes to addressing the complexity of the B2B decision-making process. By shifting your focus to buying groups and segmenting your accounts accordingly, you can create more tailored, relevant marketing strategies that speak directly to the people who matter most in the decision-making process.
“Buying-group marketing allows you to engage with the people who will actually make the decision, rather than just a lead who may have limited influence,” concludes Maynard. In an increasingly complex and fragmented B2B world, embracing buying-group marketing is the key to success.
Source: https://martech.org/why-buying-group-marketing-beats-abm-every-time/
