Experts from Dentsu B2B – Strategy Partner Tom Setter and Managing Partner Jonathan Turner sat down recently to discuss five B2B tech marketing trends that are reshaping the space.
Their dialogue surface overlooked bottlenecks hindering tech brands from reaching their full marketing potential and opportunities that they can leverage to set a new course.
The B2B landscape is shifting faster than ever, with buyer dynamics becoming increasingly complex. Since 2021, the gap between winning and losing brands has shrunk by 75%—and it’s only narrowing further each year.
What’s driving this change? The rise of generative AI, the explosion of content, and the growing number of brands entering the consideration set. On top of that, global and local economic uncertainty has made purchasing decisions riskier. Buying groups are expanding, with more stakeholders involved than ever before.
Amidst this complexity, personal and societal decision drivers—like trust, values, ethics, and career growth—are gaining prominence. They’re now just as influential as traditional business factors like compliance and integration. In fact, in B2B tech, personal and professional drivers now carry equal weight. It’s not just about business value anymore—it’s also about personal reputation.
The result? Decision-making is slower, more drawn out, and more money is being left on the table. An estimated $1.9 trillion is lost annually due to indecision and prolonged sales cycles.
To shorten decision cycles and capture lost value, customer experience is becoming a mission-critical differentiator.
Despite rising buyer expectations—from initial research to onboarding—brands are struggling to keep up. Satisfaction across the B2B journey remains low. To stand out, businesses must deeply understand these expectations and tailor their global strategies accordingly.
Delivering a best-in-class experience, however, isn’t simple. With an average of 26 influencers and 42 information touchpoints in a single purchase journey, brands need to show up at the right moments—and in the right way.
Get it right, and the payoff is real. For instance, nailing that first interaction can shave four months off a lengthy sales cycle. Even a strong, authentic 1:1 human interaction—a basic yet often overlooked touchpoint—can reduce it by a month. In an era dominated by automation and AI, the value of genuine human connection is only rising.
There’s a clear disconnect between what marketers believe they’re delivering and what buyers actually experience.
While 71% of marketers think their brand communicates a clear USP, 64% of tech buyers say most brands sound and act exactly the same. Even more telling, 75% of buyers want suppliers to better understand and address their day-to-day challenges, but only 39% feel vendors are truly tailoring their offerings.
That’s where account-based approaches are showing promise—improving engagement with the C-suite, boosting win rates, and lifting brand reputation. But hyper-personalization is still largely untapped, with just 5% of B2B experiences delivering at that level.
When it comes to brand recall, human influence makes all the difference.
Two-thirds of C-suite leaders say they value content that comes from a person, not a brand. Over a third of B2B tech buyers are swayed by peer discussions and recommendations. And 30% report being positively influenced by experts and industry voices during their decision-making process.
Buyers are actively seeking trusted opinions in non-traditional spaces. While LinkedIn still plays a role, platforms like YouTube and personal social media channels are emerging as powerful forces in shaping brand perception.
There’s also untapped potential within a company’s own people—the combined follower base of employees is, on average, 12 times that of the company’s brand accounts.
Trust and authenticity have always mattered in B2B tech—but now they’re non-negotiable.
Thought leadership has surged in importance, jumping from the 18th to the 4th most influential driver between 2023 and 2024. Buyers at every stage of the journey are actively searching for credible voices, not just product details, but actionable insights and informed guidance.
Yet despite its growing value, few tech brands are fully leaning into thought leadership. There’s a clear opportunity to stand out with content that delivers clarity, credibility, and meaningful value to today’s discerning buyers.
And with the flood of generic, AI-generated content, quality now matters more than ever. Speed alone won’t cut it. Brands need to focus on depth, relevance, and originality—sharing sharp points of view on timely topics, diving into niche trends, and communicating with real industry insight.
TechIntelPro empowers B2B technology decision-makers with the latest industry trends, deep insights, leadership perspectives and actionable intelligence to drive both organizational and professional milestones—and thrive on the tech pulse.