Despite the expanded influence of digital marketing in buying behavior and a proliferation of digital channels, B2B marketers point to a resurgence of in-person events as one of the top drivers of opportunities and pipeline conversions.

In 2019, the sales enablement platform market tallied $1.1 billion, and that number is projected to climb up to $2.6 billion by 2024. Also, 76% of organizations increased their enablement budget. This trend in sales enablement is indicative of “the customer era,” a time where customers feel more in control and have higher expectations of the customer experience during the buying process.

Dreamforce 2019 kicked off in full force this week, bringing thousands of “Trailblazers” to the heart of San Francisco for four days of learning and networking. The common theme coming out of the morning keynote — as well as other presentations throughout day one — was all about digital transformation and putting the customer at the center of everything you do.

Having a well-thought-out content plan for the New Year is essential to delivering a top-notch buyer and customer experience no matter where they are in their journey. During Demand Gen Report’s 2019 Strategy & Planning Series, a variety of experts from companies such as Content4Demand, ON24 and Uberflip shared tactical tips and best practices for making the most out of your content and engaging customers and buyers with the proper messaging to accelerate deals.  

Acknowledging that B2B buyers are placing a higher emphasis on comments from colleagues and peers, user reviews and third-party/analyst reports, marketers are taking steps to make sure that these go-to sources are more proactively making recommendations about their products and services.

ON24 Target is designed to help marketers create, personalize and deliver content experiences to engage select accounts, audiences and personas at scale. Powered by the ON24 Platform and its engagement analytics, ON24 Target gives marketers insights into their audience behavior and content performance.

InsideSales.com announced it has rebranded to XANT. The company stated that it will continue to build upon its sales engagement solutions to ensure new and prospective customers make informed, data-driven decisions.

As operation teams’ responsibility in fueling the revenue engine continues to gain momentum within B2B organizations, individuals working in Marketing and Sales Ops will be tasked to grow their skillset beyond the tech focus. These newly developed skillsets will position teams to identify specifically how their company is driving revenue, as well as determine what needs to change to drive success.

B2B CMOs are shifting focus to expanded revenue responsibilities, which means they are increasingly being asked to own their numbers with heightened involvement in the customer experience and communication across the organization with strong teams. This requires today’s CMO to transform into a leader that focuses on brand storytelling, strong talent retention and team building, revenue- and customer-focused, as well as maximizing the efficiency of their tech stack.