FABRIQ: a New Marketing Agency for B2B, Shaped by a Revolution

If, like us, you’ve been around B2B marketing for the last 20 years, then you’ll appreciate the seismic shift that’s happened during that time.

We’re a new agency, just starting out in the sunny midlands of the UK and excited about the journey ahead. We’ve got tonnes of experience across so many aspects of B2B marketing work. But, rather than tell you what we’re about, we thought it’d be way more fun to put it into context and explore how the last 20 years have shaped what we do today.

Before we do, a quick pause to say that in case you haven’t noticed, we’re called FABRIQ. That’s because we fabricate, i.e. make stuff – brands, demand programmes, marketing content, advertising campaigns, videos, words – that help you to grow but we do it with intelligence (that’s the IQ bit). We really think about whatever it is you ask us to do to ensure you get the best outcome for the best price. Clever, huh.  

And, we’re under no illusion about filling in briefing templates. But that’s okay, they can be tricky. And, ultimately, that’s what we’re here for, to make the tricky stuff a bit more simple.

So here goes, 20 years of B2B marketing packed into a nutshell blog. Enjoy.  

The Martec Revolution

How can any self-respecting retrospective begin without looking at the revolution that’s occurred in marketing technology over the last 20 years?

The Martec 8000, first visualized by chiefmartec.com, is a favourite infographic of ours (it’s so big, it’s called a supergraphic!). It quickly become a global icon from when it first appeared in 2011 and represents the sheer number of marketing technology solutions available to organizations of all kinds. The proliferation of these tech options has given B2B marketers unprecedented power but has also complicated the marketing process somewhat, as choosing the right tools from amongst the thousands available requires in-depth knowledge and strategic foresight, with a new one around every corner promising even bigger and better things.

The Marketing Technology Landscape in 2011 (from chiefmartec.com)

The expansion of marketing technology has been a double-edged sword. While it has democratized the ability to execute intricate marketing campaigns, it has also resulted in a tech stack arms race, where the companies with the most advanced toolset have a competitive advantage.

Marketers who can skilfully manage and leverage these technologies are redefining the standards of innovation and performance in the B2B marketing space.

But just take a look at this.

The marketing technology landscape in 2023 (from chiefmartec.com)

That’s not hieroglyphics you’re looking at. It’s 2023’s supergraphic from chiefmartec.com, charting the ongoing rise of the tech available to marketing teams across the globe. No wonder so many of our customers have struggled to keep pace. It represents a 7,258% growth rate over the last 12 years with over 11,000 tech platforms on there.

The growth rate of martech since 2011 has been massive

In 2024, we’re at a crossroads. This last year has seen another increase in new martech being added while marketers are being challenged to do more with less (a particular pressure is the estimate that only 33% of  a martech stack is typically being used). But we’re also under pressure to constantly innovate and find new ways to engage audiences, so experimenting with cool tools will probably continue unabated. Just remember the martech law: “Technology changes exponentially, but organizations change logarithmically”.  

From Rolodex to CRM: The Digital Transformation of Customer Relationships

In the early 2000s, early in our marketing careers, we worked with sales professionals who relied on their Rolodex as the cornerstone of customer relationship management. Need to sell something? Pick out a customer card, pick up the phone and persuade your customer you’ve got just what they need, sprinkled with a dose of wit and charm.

Fast forward to today, sophisticated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are the nucleus around which B2B marketing orbits. These solutions enable marketers to store expansive data sets, track interactions, forecast sales, and personalize customer communications.

If things couldn’t get more edgy in this space, solutions like Salesforce and Netsuite came along, entirely web-based systems, revolutionising the way businesses manage their sales pipelines, offering real-time analytics and cloud-based flexibility. This was in the days when dial-up internet was still a thing in some areas. The thought of updating customer records while getting a spinning clock on every key entry left a lot of people feeling like we were going backwards.

Those who stuck with it reaped the rewards. Systems got smarter, the internet got faster and hey presto, here we are today with an industry worth circa $88bn in 2024 and no sign of slowing down.

B2B Content Is King: The Rise of Content Marketing

Content marketing has become an integral part of a B2B marketer's arsenal. Companies that previously relied on traditional advertising and cold-calling now use valuable, relevant content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing to reach customers. The reason? Most journeys towards a purchase start with a Google search and end with a decision about what solution to buy without ever speaking to a salesperson. That’s had huge implications on the way organisations set up their sales teams and the role marketing takes in the buying process.

Previously, being able to understand an individual’s buying journey was nigh on impossible. The salesperson with the Rolodex tended to rely on face-to-face meetings and events to maintain a steady flow of opportunity. These days, it’s a lot simpler, thanks to the available tech. We can understand who the buyer is, what the buying group looks like, where they are based on their buying journey and how likely we are to influence their purchase decision.

How? Content marketing and marketing automation. To put it another way, inbound marketing, made famous by companies like HubSpot, Eloqua (now owned by Oracle), Marketo (now owned by Adobe), who whizzed around the industry selling their platforms to as many marketing teams as possible. Marketing automation, powered by big data, allowed for more sophisticated lead scoring, more personalized content, and a deeper understanding of the B2B buyer's journey. This enabled marketers to nurture leads with relevant content and timely touches, which were appreciated by B2B buyers who were themselves becoming more self-educated and self-served than in any previous era.

The Leading B2B Marketing Automation Providers 2024 (Source: Statista 2024)

The basis of their pitch is reciprocity; the concept of giving to receive. So, the theory goes, it’s one of the most persuasive sales techniques, the concept that you give something away with no expectation of anything in return. The power of the concept can be seen in the rise of brands like HubSpot, going from zero in 2006 to >$2bn revenue last year, often on the back of providing amazing content that helps marketers to be better in their work.   

Maintaining an ongoing dialogue with customers through well timed and useful content is essential. Businesses like HubSpot have demonstrated the effectiveness of inbound marketing strategies, using blog posts, guides, eBooks, and webinars to generate leads and establish authority in their field.

Personalization at Scale: Tailoring Marketing to the Individual

Despite the broad nature of B2B marketing, the trend toward personalization at scale stands as a monumental shift in the way companies approach their marketing strategies.

Personalization in marketing goes beyond segmentation, reaching the individual level to make each client feel uniquely understood and catered to. By leveraging data analytics, B2B marketers can craft personalized experiences that resonate with each decision-maker within a client organization.

This level of tailor-made communication not only enhances the customer experience but also significantly increases the effectiveness of marketing efforts, driving engagement and conversion rates.

The ultimate incarnation of personalisation at scale is Account-Based Marketing (ABM). According to Adobe, ABM is a B2B sales and marketing strategy that requires both disciplines to engage specific target accounts that are considered a good fit for the brand. It's a powerful, focused approach that targets specific, high-value prospects to convert them into sales.

The Leading ABM Platforms (Source: Gartner, Oct 2023)

We could argue that it’s just good practice to train the marketing crosshairs on very specific accounts that align to the work sales are already doing. Having a target account list is a basic parameter for sales success and establishing product-market fit. but it’s not a universally adopted approach, and many organisations still work in a very siloed way across sales and marketing departments.  

The Advent of Social Selling

Social selling has transformed the B2B landscape. By leveraging networks and building relationships, businesses can tailor their messaging and engage directly with prospective clients.

In the past decade, the social media and content marketing platforms that began to flourish have revolutionized how B2B companies could reach their audiences. While content marketing platforms facilitated the creation, management, and measurement of content, social media platforms provided a new channel for distribution.

What Even is Social Selling?

Social selling and traditional selling compared

This era also saw the critical importance of organic and paid social media in B2B marketing, where 'social selling' became an irreplaceable practice for sales and marketing teams. B2B companies have embraced social media platforms as key channels for brand building, customer engagement, and lead generation. According to LinkedIn’s State of Sales report, 78% of social sellers outsell peers who don’t use social media.

Social media offers unique opportunities for professional networking, content distribution, and targeted advertising, allowing businesses to connect with their audience on a more personal level. Platforms like LinkedIn, once the domain of job hunters, has emerged as the "Watering Hole of B2B Marketers", becoming a prime hunting ground for reaching business professionals with targeted content and ads.

Mobile Marketing: Connecting Anytime, Anywhere

Mobile marketing is no longer optional—it's imperative. With the surge of smartphone use, B2B marketers must prioritize responsive design and mobile applications to reach their audience effectively.

The B2B martec revolution shares a historical timeline with the broader technological and consumer changes of the early 21st century, with key events such as Apple's launch of the iPhone in 2007 serving as a touchstone. The advent of the infinitely capable smartphone really marked the 'beginning' of the mobile era, propelling a new way for companies to reach potential buyers. With the iPhone, people were able to access information, communicate, and consume content like never before — and marketers needed to adjust their strategies accordingly.

In the wake of the iPhone, optimizing for mobile became paramount. B2B marketers realized the need to engage audiences wherever they were, on any device they used. This realization didn't just transform the design of websites and emails; it changed the strategy behind B2B marketing, leading to a more personal, immediate, and continuous form of interaction with prospects and clients.

Customer-Centricity: The Focus on CX

Now, more than ever, the customer experience (CX) is at the heart of B2B marketing. Customer experience (CX) has become one of the most significant battlegrounds for businesses aiming to differentiate themselves.

These tailored experiences are not just about the product or the pitch but the entire customer's path, from the first touchpoint to post-purchase support. They ensure that the customer interacts with a B2B company's brand seamlessly, regardless of the channel or medium.

Understanding CX in the B2B context means dissecting each interaction and optimizing it for maximum positive impact. It involves streamlining complex purchasing processes, providing consultative support, and even software interfaces that are intuitive, as well as functional.

Soliciting and acting upon customer feedback is the linchpin that holds a robust CX strategy together. B2B companies should actively seek feedback at various touchpoints and from multiple stakeholders in the customer's organization. This feedback offers valuable cues for necessary course corrections and is a catalyst for continuous improvement.

Sophisticated tools like Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys, customer satisfaction (CSAT) metrics, and sentiment analysis software are essential for tracking and analyzing CX metrics in B2B marketing. These tools provide quantifiable data that can be directly tied to the customer experience and used to modulate and refine B2B marketing efforts.

There are some amazing tools out there that measure customer sentiment to help guide business decisions. Here’s a great discussion on the market leaders.

Embracing the Digital Era: The Shift to Online B2B Channels

The migration from traditional to online marketing channels is a defining characteristic of the digital era, compelling B2B companies to rethink their outreach strategies. COVID put a turbo charger on that engine, accelerating the shift of marketing spend into digital channels.

Digital advertising spend in 2023 was around $680bn. It’s expected to exceed $1 trillion in 2026. The buying journey is now largely digital, even up to the point of purchase.

According to McKinsey, 70% of B2B decision-makers are willing to make new purchases over $50,000 through self-service or online channels, while 27% of buyers will spend more than $500,000 online.

Digital platforms offer diverse and direct pathways to potential clients, from social media to search engines, and everything in-between. According to insiderintelligence.com, there are between 7 and 16 people involved in complex B2B purchase decisions. Today, it’s estimated B2B researchers do 12 searches, on average, prior to engaging on a specific brand's site, highlighting the need for strong search engine optimization.

The digital ecosystem allows for an unprecedented scale of networking and community-building that transcends physical boundaries, making global markets more accessible.

Ethics and Transparency in Top B2B Marketing Agencies

In my young days of marketing, I recall the fax machine buzzing away ten times a day with unsolicited promotions. Sometimes, it was the local sandwich shop sending across their menu (pretty useful). Other times, it would be an insurance company promoting a 10% discount offer on pet insurance (useful if you had a dog, not so if you were a pet-free household).

In an era where data privacy concerns are paramount, ethics and transparency have become cornerstones of trust in digital marketing. Transparency in marketing communications means ensuring that all messages are honest, clear and free from misleading information. This includes everything from accurately representing products or services in advertising to being open about pricing models and contract terms.

The introduction of GDPR in the EU had a profound effect on the attention that went into the way campaigns were set up and the way many marketers approached customer data handling, storage and transit. Ironically, it created an opportunity if you were marketing for tech vendors like we were. Suddenly, we had a chance to promote platforms for data privacy and management to enterprise businesses. All in a very responsible and ethical way of course.

Maybe we’ve gone too far. The acceptance of the way cookies are handled every time I go on my favourite web sites is tiresome and somewhat meaningless (like signing Google’s latest 10-page privacy update with a quick click of agreement), but it’s a moving feast, particularly with the advent of AI.

You can at least feel reassured that the way top B2B agencies handle your customer data is done with care and precision. The days of “email me the spreadsheet and just put a password on it” should be long gone. Convenient as that may be, if that’s still a regular conversation with your agency, it might be time to test the other ways your customer data is being put at risk.

The Rise of the Machine in B2B

What better place to finish this piece than with reference to AI. It’s estimated that more than 80% of businesses are using AI in some form. Many people might not even realise. For those not yet accustomed to ChatGPT, various software platforms that have long been in use by organizations have subtly introduced AI into their background processing to enhance the customer experience, even if it’s just Google or Microsoft helping you to complete sentences in your latest email.

AI Market Size Forecast

The new dominance of AI, of course, shows no sign of slowing down. As a marketing agency that prides itself on being on the trend curve, we’ve put together a blog outlining our favourite AI tools. Check it out.

In Summary

We’ve really enjoyed pulling this together. It highlights just how far the sector has come in the last 20 years. It also demonstrates that agencies in 2024 should be working towards a modern methodology that’s guided by inbound principles.

Though we’re a new agency, we have over two decades in the industry, delivering tailored, modern B2B marketing solutions that evolve in step with your business and ever-changing market demands, taking on brand and demand challenges with skill and enthusiasm.

At FABRIQ, we’re confident we bring the opportunity for B2B marketing success and we stand ready to help our B2B clients embrace the latest and greatest technologies that build your sustainable growth. Plus, we’re based in the midlands, which is a lovely bonus for anyone wanting a nice drive out to a rural location (or even better, if you happen to be in the midlands yourself!).