Leading B2B Marketing Experts Share 3 Best Practices for a Successful 2025

Recent advancements in technology and the shift toward more personalized and data-driven marketing have kept B2B marketers on their toes. Marketers are no longer satisfied with simply adhering to marketing basics; they are trying innovative approaches and strategies to connect with their audiences. 

REQ’s Senior Vice President of Public Relations, Robin Bectel, moderated a panel of leading experts in B2B marketing at the Mid-Atlantic MarCom Summit on the innovative strategies they are utilizing in their day-to-day work. The panel included Mia Libby, SVP of enterprise sales at The Wall Street Journal, Colby Proffitt, VP of marketing at Shift5, Tommi Marsans, associate director marketing technology strategist at Verizon Business Group, and Michael Tirone, digital SVP at Powell Tate. 

The conversation focused on ways to engage with future and current customers, using AI and Account Based Marketing platforms to navigate the changing B2B marketing, and finding new and undetected customers in their “dark funnels.” They shared three best practices that you’ll want to incorporate into your marketing efforts in 2025.

Know your Marketing Funnel and Where your Audience Falls

Every customer's journey is different. Some come into companies' marketing funnels with the intention to buy, others are just beginning to consider their options, and still others are somewhere in the middle. Meeting customers where they are is critical to nurturing them through the rest of their journeys, however long or short those might be. 

Wherever customers are in the marketing funnel, you must be prepared to meet them as soon as they are ready to buy. To do so, it is essential to: 

• Understand how many “touches” it takes: The number of touches or times customers interact with your company before making a buying decision is increasing. The Rule of 7 now appears to be a baseline, with many markets and companies taking much more to get to the next step. This could indicate increased competition or the fact that customers are more discerning in purchasing decisions. Since customers are spending more time weighing options overall before making a purchase, it is even more important for you to personalize your marketing campaigns, and adjust your KPIs accordingly.
• Focus on the “dark funnel:" There are customers you don't know are in your funnel. They might be curious about your offerings but not yet ready to dive into the top of your funnel. They’re likely coming to your company through non-traditional tracking methods (i.e., word of mouth marketing) and therefore do not leave identifiable digital footprints. Reaching these customers is essential; failure to do so could cost your organization thousands of dollars in unrealized revenue. Fortunately, you can employ several effective strategies and tactics to get their attention. For example, organic search engine marketing and social media posts are excellent tools to reach potential customers who might not be actively browsing your site in ways that can be tracked, downloading your product sheets or white papers, or engaging directly with your organization via other methods. 

Remember, while it's important to reach all audiences, it's just as critical to listen as it is to communicate. Listening helps you understand what your customers want and need - and will put you in a better position to deliver solutions and pricing that match those needs. 

How AI is Changing the B2B Space 

AI has opened new avenues for you to connect with customers and prospects. Technologies like ChatGPT and other generative AI tools have made creating engaging stories and personalized messaging that resonates with audiences effortless. Storytelling can entertain, inspire, provoke, and make customers want to engage more with your product and company. Non-traditional channels like Instagram or TikTok may now be more relevant for B2B marketers. 

Marketers, however, aren’t just using AI to create content. AI is also exceptionally valuable in helping you measure the success of your campaign. AI-driven analytics can help you measure the relationship between conversion rate and engagement. Using AI tools to track performance in real time allows you to break down metrics, pinpoint weaknesses and strengths of a campaign, and tailor your marketing efforts as needed. 

AI gives you more control and power over your marketing campaigns than ever before. You can move from being reactive to proactive and use the technology’s recommendations to create highly targeted outreach to potential buyers early in the consideration phase. This helps you forge and cultivate those relationships as buyers move through their unique customer journeys.

Furthermore, with AI and automated analytics, you can finally create, modify, and optimize campaigns with a winning combination of content and data. You can ensure your marketing dollars are used efficiently and effectively to deliver optimal results.

Embrace Account Based Marketing Platforms

Once you have a better understanding of your customers and how AI can be used to reach audiences and create content, you can utilize different lead-generation tools to close deals. Account Based Marketing (ABM) platforms that use AI and automation can be your go-to marketing tools across your sales environment, particularly for:

• Targeting and Personalization: ABMs can identify, personalize, and deliver content and messages that fit your audience across your marketing funnel—even your dark funnel. 
• Data-Driven Insights: ABMs provide insights on campaign performance so you can refine your strategies and see the different indicators that impact your audience. For example, different generations might prefer email versus phone communication, or some audiences might still prefer direct mail. 
• Multi-Channel Organization: ABMs allow you to integrate various channels and utilize all departments, including sales, public relations, and marketing, to launch and manage various campaigns, including social media, email communication, paid ads, and more. These tools will allow for a more effective, integrated, and complete marketing approach to reach all audiences. 

To be most effective, ABMs need to be integrated across the sales team to reach all aspects of your campaign. By doing so, you’ll be able to better personalize and tailor messaging and increase reporting with better insights through a unified, strategic approach across your company’s teams. 

As we approach 2025, B2B marketing will continue to hit new growth trajectories, and the competition will continue to evolve. You must be ready to employ all means to maximize your investments and reach new and old audiences. These three best practices will help you get started.