The future of business-to-business marketing will be full of lots of digital change in the year ahead, says new research from Forrester.
B2B marketing, sales, and product teams face a turbulent year ahead. It will be full of partner-centered growth and productivity ups and buyer demands, technology, and regulatory/legal downs. Generative AI will launch the potential for sweeping impact across all teams with a mix of success and failures expected during the next 12 months, Forrester says.
Here are three ways generative AI will change the world of B2B marketing
1. Millennials take charge
2 out of 5 Millennial buyers will demand early access to B2B product experts. Forrester predicts that 40% of younger buyers will rate person-to-person meetings with product experts as their most meaningful personal interactions.
Key takeaway: B2B sellers should forge effective partnerships with product experts and orchestrate all person-to-person interactions.
2. AI will play a big role in product development
Generative AI will surface insights that dictate one in five new B2B product launches. In 2024, Forrester expects product teams to adopt generative AI for idea identification and innovation because of its ability to rapidly sort through customer data for insights. Using generative AI to expedite reviewing an even wider variety of win/loss, competitive intelligence, and customer feedback sources will help to identify novel or non-obvious capabilities that make it into 20% of products launched.
3. Early and rushed AI may backfire B2B marketing efforts
Thinly customized generative AI content will degrade purchase experience for 70% of buyers. B2B buyers saturated in vendor content will have to sort through even more, as marketers and sellers adopt the rapid repackaging and reuse capabilities that generative AI delivers.
Key takeaway: Early experiments will struggle to produce more than simple vertical veneers, poorly personalized offers, or prospecting messages aimed at existing customers, giving buyers more of what they don’t want, Forrester says. Growing frustration will cause more than 70% of business buyers to voice displeasure about the material vendors share.
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