B2B marketers are focused on getting response to their content and outreach initiatives. They want click throughs and replies and inquiries to result from the calls to action they flow through their marketing programs.

But, what B2B marketers of complex sales need to focus on—in addition—is marketing the conversation.

There are a variety of conversations we need to influence and enable:

• Sales conversations - Yes, this is the big one that all marketers are focused on achieving. This is the one your sales team expects you to generate. A lot of them.


• Prospect conversations - As inside sales plays a bigger role, these are the conversations that help achieve the interest in participating in that big one above. They should be adding value to the content your prospects are exposed to during your nurturing programs.


• Influencer conversations - This is the one marketers overlook. An influencer conversation happens when our content floats ideas in prospects' minds that they feel compelled to go discuss with project stakeholders who have the capability to approve or derail a purchase decision with a two-letter word. "No."

Yes, that's all they have to say. They may not be able to make that final purchase decision on their own, but by saying "no" they can derail the possibility of any further conversation.

As marketers, we must develop content designed to enable the prospects we know about—and whose interest we've cultivated—to be motivated and prepared to take the discussion behind the walls to those we don't know about, or can't reach.

This means that the more you know about everyone involved in the purchase decision, the better able you'll be to design content that inspires a variety of conversations.

So let's talk about what that takes. Marketing the conversation means:

• Sharing information about how the problem impacts the decision maker and the company overall, but also providing them with insights about other impacts to stakeholders involved in or affected by the project.


• Creating content that helps your audience visualize the ideas and internalize them. When prospects can actually picture themselves in the scenarios your content provides, they can then grasp the ideas in a way that naturally inspires conversations. It's about context and storytelling.


• Designing resources for the express purpose of pass along and making them available to the audience you have. Pass along means that you help your prospects see the value in helping others involved in the project (and purchase decision) see the value of your expertise and solutions in relation to the impact from their vantage point.

It's ridiculous to think that your company will be involved in all the crucial conversations that take place during the course of a complex purchase. This means it's up to you to proactively create content designed to enable conversations that address the needs of all the other stakeholders.

Marketing Sherpa research shows that the number of people involved in a buying decision can reach up to 21. That's a lot of people to influence. It's also a really good reason why we need to step back and do the research that helps you get to know your buyers as Jerry, Sam and Debbie instead of the demographic qualifiers marketers seem to rely upon as indicators of interest.

We've got to work on expanding our depth of reach within our prospect companies. That only happens when we've got something relevant to say to each of them. The better we can do this, the more conversations—at different levels—our marketing content will help to inspire.

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