B2B hasn’t always had the most exciting reputation in business, but the tide is turning – and that’s a good thing.

I came across a really interesting opinion piece on MarketingWeek.com that was recently shared on OMI’s social media. The article says we’ve entered the “B2B century” and that marketers will be the ones to lead it. It had some incredible insights on the history of marketing, B2B and B2C comparisons, the evolution of product-led business models and more. 

For quite a while now there’s been a lot of talk about how B2B should adopt B2C techniques. From creating a more personalized experience to laugh-out-loud funny Super Bowl ads, B2B is evolving and these “B2C” style changes are a part of that process. But in recent months, more and more I’m seeing B2C looking to mirror B2B instead of the other way around. B2B is coming into its own and B2C can learn from it.

For example, ABM (account-based marketing) has been a mainstay for B2B for years. What can consumer marketers learn from the strategy? In my opinion, a lot.

By monitoring online activities, keyword searches, website visits, content downloads, product reviews and more, marketers can gather digital intent signals that indicate buyers who are "in-market" and ready to buy. By uncovering the right prospects earlier in the buying cycle, businesses can save time and money on ads to irrelevant targets. Intent data is boosted even more when it’s matched with high-quality contact data for greater insight and omnichannel outreach.

At OMI, we monitor that data to provide more than 14 billion new B2B intent signals to our clients each week. From there, the data is matched by IP address to the company associated with the searches -- and to the potential buyer contact -- using our extensive contact database.

Another point from the Marketing Week article that stood out to me: B2B isn’t a “niche.” According to the article, in the U.S., more than 70% of businesses are primarily B2B, totalling over $9 trillion a year in B2B sales.

It also pointed out, “B2B is the key driver of economic growth” and marketers are the people who build those businesses.”

Even the most indispensable products—that we take for granted today—weren’t so obvious to buyers at first. Why would anyone need a washing machine? People had been washing their clothes by hand for thousands of years.

Now, most of us can’t imagine our lives without the modern technology of which previous generations were skeptical.

Among many changes in recent years, the way we work is evolving significantly. B2B marketers have an incredible opportunity to change the work landscape for the better. What’s the next “washing machine” for businesses?

B2B marketers will be the ones to tell you.

Did you know? Over 75 million of OMI’s 80 million manager- and professional-level and above contacts are matched to the LiveRamp RampID graph, including 65 million records from our SMB and medical market databases. Contact us today to learn more about building a custom audience.