đ Yup, You Read the Title Right
Look, being overwhelmed and burned-out is horrible and we at SaaS Marketer donât wish it on anyone. However, weâd be lying if we said we didnât feel some sort of satisfaction over the fact B2C marketers are also feeling overwhelmed. From where weâre sitting, it always feels like B2B has to brave the weather and deal with the constant, exhausting vicissitudes of struggle and distrust.Â
As weâve established in previous articles, CFOs, CMOs, and CEOs are always looking for ways to cut B2B marketing budgets because they donât believe they provide any sufficient ROI, resulting in marketers wrangling together what they can in short amounts of time.Â
And then weâd always look next door, peering over the fence to see B2C thriving with their marketing and branding; as the saying goes, the grass seems greener over in their garden. However, recently somethingâs happened: their lawn is drier, there are sporadic brown patches and its growth is uneven.Â
It looks a lot like ours.Â
Oh my god⌠theyâre struggling too!
đ¤ So Whatâs Happened?
A study from Forrester reports that many B2C marketers are struggling to meet targets and priorities this year. Why? Because of the two acronyms we know all too well in the B2B hemisphere: ROI and AI.
Here are some of the top B2C marketing priorities this year, according to Forrester:
- Increase focus on customer experience (28%)
- Increase customer engagement across the lifecycle (27%)
- Improve how the brand is perceived by customers and prospects (26%)
- Improve the ROI/effectiveness of marketing (25%)
- Increase the brandâs ability to energise customer relationships and create passionate advocates (24%).
It turns out that two of the biggest issues have been updating their data strategy to adapt to data depreciation (47%) and introducing or enhancing AI capabilities (47%); another has also been improving ROI (44%).Â
When it comes to marketing execution, theyâre really struggling with personalised interactions with customers (41%); creating a single view of the customer across channels and interactions (37%); and driving decision-making and customer insights (34%).
đĄ Our Take on the Whole Thing
Honestly, all jokes aside: we feel you, B2C, we really do. 2023 has been a wonderful year for AI, algorithmic changes, and ROI, but for marketers in all industries, itâs been a ballache. There have been so many changes and we havenât known how to deal with it. We thought we could, we all told ourselves we were made of sterner stuff and wouldnât face burnout. Granted, B2C has managed to stay strong for a while, but itâs getting harder.
To return back to our previous metaphor of B2Câs garden next door, perhaps we should be good neighbours; perhaps we should knock on their door and offer a helping hand. Weâre both in the same boat, our gardens are growing new plants weâve never even seen before and itâs all getting too much. Both of us stood at our windows, staring with worry â our own gardens have stalemated us.Â
If we can help each other, then perhaps we can get our marketing mojo back on and beat the problem.
For a more in-depth look at the report, you can find the full thing here!
Sam Hollis is a Writer for Fame, SaaS Marketer, as well as his own fictional short stories. He lives and works in Birmingham with his three cats and his dog (way too many pets, if you ask us)