Feeling B2B in 2023 – Top 10 Reasons to Attend MarketingProfs B2B Forum | International Association of Digital Marketing Professionals (IADMP)

When you think of B2B Marketing do you think “blandscape”? Maybe “boring to boring”? Or do think of an exciting opportunity to impact an industry projected to reach $1.8 trillion in 2023 through ecommerce alone? (Statista). That’s right, TRILLION.

There’s a lot to be excited about in B2B Marketing today including the latest trend of Generative AI and its impact on everything from ideation to performance optimization. At the same time, questions about how we can do more with less and create impact both short and long term are being answered by more than technology.

As the saying goes, the B’s in B2B are people too and all that comes with being human including emotions. Undoubtedly you’ve heard the expression that people (including buying committees) make decisions based on emotion and justify with logic. While there’s temptation to pass that saying off as a cliche, “research from Google and CEB has found that B2B customers are significantly more emotionally connected with their vendors and service providers than consumers.” (via FT) In fact, 95% of our decision-making takes place in the subconscious mind. (Harvard Business School)

Without question, B2B marketing is both art and science. It is creativity and data, human and technology. One could say a lot of B2B marketing education available today is technology / data rich and emotion / human poor. And this is where MarketingProfs B2B Forum comes in.

2023 is the 14th year I’ve been giving B2B marketing presentations for MarketingProfs. Throughout my 25 year career in digital marketing, there have been many changes and also some universal truths. One of those truths is the importance of shared experiences and tapping into collective wisdom. Plenty of people try to improve their knowledge and skills as individuals – if at all. Fewer, and I would argue the most successful, make their career evolution a team sport. They seek knowledge and expertise through less mechanical and more meaningful means. They’re not just “doing” B2B marketing, they’re inspired, they’re “feeling” it.

Of course, the expression, “Feeling B2B” was coined by the brilliant Ann Handley. And Ann is also behind the programming of one of the most meaningful B2B Marketing learning experiences and networks of people you can connect with: MarketingProfs B2B Forum.

This year, B2B Forum is happening in Boston in person or you can join online. Workshops are October 4th with the main conference happening October 5th and 6th. As usual, the programming is current and timeless at the same time. The list of speakers is a who’s who of B2B marketing including marketers from major B2B brands like Forrester as well as expert consultants like Ahava Leibtag. I know budgets for marketing events these days require more justification than in the past, so I wanted to put together a list of top reasons to sign yourself and your team up for MarketingProfs B2B Forum in 2023.