In 2008 I was CMO of a 120-person SaaS scale-up, looking for a low-cost, high impact way to create more opportunities for my business. Through a friend I reached out to a little-known company called Marketo, and joined the Beta program for their yet-to-be-released lead management software. It blew my mind and totally changed how we could build our business.
But that was 2008 and B2B marketing has changed dramatically since then 📈.
That's because the way audiences seek solutions to their problems today is a world apart from 2008. Then it was all about websites, events, analysts and SDR outreach.
Fast-forward to today, and those traditional methods have lost their credibility 🚫.
Why?
• Company websites = email mining machines 📥
• Events = more about sales pitches than value 💰
• Analysts = often viewed as pay-to-play 💸
• SDR & automated emails = ignored inbox clutter 🗑️
Meanwhile, the way people connect, share, and learn has completely evolved. The power of communities has EXPLODED 🌍 :
• Social media has become a valid place of B2B connection 🤝
• Facebook Groups and Reddit spark global conversations 💬
• YouTube comments are a goldmine of insights 🕵️♂️
• WhatsApp and messaging apps allow instant collaboration 📲
• Review sites like G2 and TrustRadius offer transparent peer feedback ⭐
• Good word of mouth about product experience has more reach than great marketing 💡
Here’s the reality: If you ask buyers where they turn for solutions, they’ll tell you—they ask their peers 👥.
Buyers crave credibility and authenticity ✨, and those come from trusted connections, not corporate lead gen 🏢.
So, as we head into 2025 we all need to harness people, technology and AI to :
✅ Tap into real conversations in communities
✅ Build trust, not just leads
✅ Pivot to Product Led Growth over Sales Led Growth
So stop marketing like its 2008. Embrace the change! Your audience already has 🚀.
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📸 : From the Marketo, Inc. Flickr site. Meeting some of the Marketo team for the first time in San Francisco in 2009 (I know, it looks like the 1980s!). Jon Miller, Laura Mishima, Maria Pergolino and, in loving memory, Amy Guarino.