We all know that AI is a big deal.
After all, it seems that every second conference, LinkedIn post and podcast is in raptures about this massive, amorphous thing called AI.
The only problem is that very few of us know how to take commercial advantage of the many changes looming in an AI-powered world.
While AI has enormous potential as a tool to help B2B marketing and sales teams land and retain large clients, the trick, like any new technology, is knowing how it can help you to reach your specific market and goals.
So much of the publicity about AI centres around the jobs it will make redundant. As a result, many are fearful of what may happen in the future.
The key lesson for all of us is this: do not, repeat, DO NOT, be afraid of AI and the difference it can make to your life!
You should be excited about the many opportunities AI will create for those of us who are open to learning new ways to work, live and play.
When the internet was blowing up in the early 2000s, marketers and C-suite executives had a choice: they could bury their heads in the sand and hope the new, confusing digital ‘fad’ would pass, or they could accept that this technology had huge potential and become an early adopter.
The companies that weren’t afraid to evolve were the ones that cemented their leadership roles in the new digital reality, with many still profiting today.
AI, and its commercial adoption, presents organisations of all sizes with the same inflexion point.
According to McKinsey’s report on “courageous growth,” the companies that outperform their peers are those that invest heavily in AI and innovative technology.
Of course, it’s easier said than done. AI is a hugely broad area with some 70,000 specialist AI companies globally, each of which offer their own nuanced suite of features and functionalities.
So how can B2B professionals use AI as a tool to improve corporate customer communication AND for driving growth?
Let’s look at case studies for clues as to how you can use AI to get and retain larger clients.
Case Study #1: Blackwoods
The Australia-based B2B supplier of industrial and safety products launched a new online platform in 2019 and sought to improve user experience and drive online sales. Marketers understood that improving the B2H relationship could help them get there, and that AI was an impactful tool to help them do this.
The company teamed up with Coveo and SAP Commerce Cloud to improve:
- Product findability on the site
- Product recommendations
- Inquiry response times
- The personalised buyer experience
Their upgrades significantly enhanced the user search experience, resulting in a 22% increase in digital sales and an 8% reduction in null searches. The company was able to achieve these improvements by using AI as a tool to enhance personalisation, thereby increasing trust, loyalty, and customer satisfaction.
Key takeaway: Use AI to enhance, not replace, customer relationships
Technology is the basis of any good AI platform, but it can’t stop there. Technology must be a means to forge meaningful relationships with clients. This view reflects the growing trend of renaming both B2C and B2B as B2H, business to human.
The demand for a seller-buyer relationship exists. According to a Gartner survey, 86% of B2B customers expect sellers to be well-informed about their personal information during interactions, while an Adobe study shows that the majority of B2B buyers expect personalisation through every step of the buyer journey.
B2B agencies that prioritise relationships and personalisation will speak to the needs of larger clients, offering them what they crace.
Case study #2: Sage Publishing
Sage Publishing is a global school textbook distributor that does copy development for 100+ new textbooks a year, each of which requires a huge amount of content creation and marketing on various channels.
When generative AI started getting big, Sage’s marketing team understood that they could use it to help them create marketing copy at scale, which would lessen the amount of time employees spend on content creation.
The Sage team found Jasper AI and explained their needs. They worked with Jasper to develop a custom workflow, i.e. a repeatable process, in which a few sparse details and parameters could be input, and the platform would then generate all the necessary content.
The scalability of the workflow led to dramatic results: Time spent drafting content was reduced by 99%, company marketing spend was reduced by 50%, and the speed of creating textbook descriptions increased by 99%.
Key takeaway: Use AI to create a repeatable process
Executives at Sage Publishing understood that AI had the potential to change their entire workflow through a repeatable process. They sought a solution — and found it.
A repeatable process, also known as scalability, is the creation of a methodology that can be easily replicated for different clients, no matter the size of the company or industry. The ideal repeatable process can also be replicated on different marketing channels with only slight alterations.
B2B agencies that use a repeatable process expand their reach, improve efficiency, and save time, freeing up marketers to focus on other aspects.
Case Study #3: Country Fried Creative
The founder of US-based marketing agency, Country Fried Creative, describes AI as a “force multiplier,” a type of technology that amplifies a person’s efforts, enabling them to accomplish more than possible on their own. As a force multiplier, the agency uses AI to assist with the many marketing needs of its clients — and its own marketing needs as well.
As a marketing agency that works with many local clients, and targets local businesses for its own client base, generic AI-generated content won’t cut it. Both the agency and its clients need specialised local content that reflects authenticity, community connections, and a recognition of a shared culture and background.
So while the agency’s human team works on marketing strategy with a localisation mindset, they also use AI as a “force multiplier,” a tool to help scale their efforts for various clients, enabling the marketers to accomplish much more, and at a faster pace, than they would without AI capabilities.
Key takeaway: Use AI and human input to offer clients what they need
AI can help marketers offer more — more content, more channels, more visibility — and all of it, at the speed of light! This is what large clients want. At the same time, AI cannot offer clients a culture of community and understanding — this is where the human touch comes in. B2B agencies that offer this combination can attract larger clients, as companies crave a combination of both — and one without the other isn’t enough.
The Bottom Line
Marketers who understand the enormous potential of AI can use it as an unstoppable tool to help attract and retain large clients. Those who understand its potential but aren’t sure how to implement it are invited to contact us — we offer AI guidance and implementation to help agencies achieve their goals.
Don’t be like the people who were afraid of the internet in its early days – they missed the commercial boat, with many still playing catch-up.
Be an early adopter, learn how to maximise the potential of AI, and secure a space in the future for your company.
