7 Ways to Use GenAI for Personalized B2B Marketing and Sales

AI-powered personalization reshapes B2B marketing landscape: Generative AI (genAI) is transforming B2B personalization strategies, offering new ways to deliver relevant, responsive content to buyers and customers throughout their journey.

The evolving demands of B2B buyers: Modern B2B audiences seek personalized experiences tailored to their specific needs and preferences across marketing and sales channels.

• 82% of global B2B marketing decision-makers acknowledge that buyers expect personalized experiences.
• 75% recognize that buyers and customers demand immediate responses to their inquiries.
• B2B personalization is shifting towards contextual interactions designed and delivered in real-time, based on known, inferred, and predicted audience data.

Seven strategic applications of genAI in B2B personalization:

1. Leveraging content as data: GenAI can detect, classify, and extract buying signals from content consumption behavior and natural language interactions.

   • This approach enables the creation of personalized interactions that respond to audience context, needs, and preferences in real-time.

2. Personalizing for anonymous visitors: GenAI offers solutions for delivering relevant content to unknown website visitors without relying on personal data or content gates.

   • In-session personalization uses real-time behavior signals to tailor the experience.
   • Conversational AI engages anonymous visitors, helping to profile, qualify, and facilitate interactions.

3. Fueling omnichannel personalization: GenAI powers automated conversations across various touchpoints in the customer lifecycle.

• Conversational exchanges generate signals that inform marketing and sales strategies.
• Unstructured data from these interactions can be transformed into actionable buying signals for go-to-market teams.

4. Simulating complex journeys: Synthetic data generated by AI can map and simulate intricate B2B buying journeys.

   • This allows marketers to model various outcomes based on evolving behaviors, business conditions, and group dynamics.
   • It enables a deeper understanding of audience interactions without relying on personal data.

5. Enhancing localization and multilingual capabilities: GenAI facilitates the creation and customization of content in multiple formats and languages.

   • This capability enables on-brand, local-level content customization at scale for multinational enterprises.

6. Customizing AI-powered interactions: GenAI can add a more human touch to B2B personalization through customized content, conversations, and AI assistant personas.

• Marketing leaders must provide strategic guidance to ensure these interactions remain transparent and authentic.

7. Streamlining workflows: B2B organizations should realistically assess how genAI can enhance their personalization processes.
   • This includes defining how genAI will analyze, activate, and adapt personalized experiences.
   • It also involves enabling team members to interact with company and customer data effectively.

Balancing technology and human expertise: While genAI offers powerful capabilities for B2B personalization, it’s crucial to consider the human element in implementation and optimization.

• Marketers should account for the time required to edit and fine-tune an increased volume of content components.
• Clear guidelines for articulating prompts focused on signal-driven personalization are essential.

Broader implications for B2B marketing: GenAI-powered personalization has the potential to significantly impact B2B marketing and sales efficiency.

• By leveraging these technologies, organizations can demonstrate their commitment to being responsive, relevant, and aligned with customer needs.
• However, successful implementation requires a strategic approach that balances technological capabilities with human expertise and ethical considerations.
• As genAI continues to evolve, B2B marketers must stay informed and adaptable to harness its full potential while maintaining authentic and valuable customer interactions.