What CMOs of B2Bs in Growth Stages Should Focus on in 2022

If I were a CMO of a B2B company in its growth stage (after Series A), this is what I’d focus on in 2022:

1. Demand gen & brand marketing in the dark funnel

How do you generate demand and build your brand? The simple answer is creating and distributing different types of content on organic and paid social.

But if you want to go deeper, your content strategy needs to be aligned with where your potential customers hang out online and how they learn about and buy products, so conduct customer research.

You’ll know it’s working when you generate inbound opportunities (mostly through direct traffic) that translate into marketing-sourced SQOs and revenue. And make sure you optimize for these metrics.

Simply put, adopt a buyer-centric mindset.

2. Community-led growth

Create or engage with communities where your prospects and customers easily collaborate, support one another, and network.

As such, you have to act as their peer, and depending on the community, you want to involve the right person (SME) from your company (and not a marketing person by default).

Tapping into communities can help you generate demand at a low CAC.

For example, Slack facilitates third-party communities, like Partnership Leaders and Demand Curve, which all bring in new users.

3. Word of mouth marketing

Word of mouth is the best marketing you can have because this is exactly how we buy.

B2B buyers make buying decisions by listening to colleagues/friends they trust, and learning on communities, slack channels, social platforms, groups, and more.

Word of mouth can be driven by points 1 & 2 listed above, but also by influencer marketing, events, and customer evangelism programs.

4. Testing new & future growth channels

Your marketing should be proactive, not reactive. So, in parallel with the marketing efforts I suggest here, you should always be testing new avenues for growth to stay ahead of the curve, even if those involve a low budget.

For example, TikTok is beginning to gain traction with B2B buyers, so I’d lay the groundwork to figure out how to create content that resonates there. By planning ahead, you’ll know what to do when the time comes, giving you a big competitive advantage.

That’s it. What would you add?