Great Enthusiasms

Kath Chalmers’ musings on business, marketing, and other fun things in life

The Consumerization of B2B IT

My friend Graham Gillen has written an excellent article over at Pragmatic Marketing about how the consumer technology buying experience spills over to corporate purchases and what that means for product marketers.  It’s spot on and definitely worth a read.

Graham explains, “This spillover of the consumer buying and using experience into what people will expect in business experiences is a looming phenomenon that will affect product marketers—as well as sales, marketing and product management.”  Just as consumer marketers have learned to listen and adapt to social media empowered customers, so too will B2B marketers face losing some control of their messaging and positioning as market tide move them forward.

Since product marketers are already engaged cross-functionally within their companies and actively meeting with and listening to customers in the market, Graham explains that they are in a unique position to help their companies manage this transition.  Read his suggestions for ways product marketers can help their sales, marketing, and product development teams succeed in this changing environment.