Not too long ago, we lived an agrarian society where success and wealth generation were linked and limited by access to land. Then urbanization intensified and access to specialized knowledge, labor and capital became the key determinants of wealth. Today, personal and professional success is tied significantly to the individual’s ability to integrate digital into all spheres of life. For an informed, intelligent archetypical, digitally native citizen focused on personal and professional development, digital is not a choice, but a purposefully and intensively integrated part of life. We no longer live on farms, nor in the cities, we live online.
Any B2B decision maker is obviously part of the same societal transformation. Her professional success is inextricably linked to their proficiency and usage of digital. Digital gives access to a level of expertise which an individual sales rep or account manager can never be expected to deliver. With the proliferation and democratization of AI, the gap between the aggregate knowledge and credibility of the digital ecosystem and an account manager is going to widen continuously. Obviously, the face to face sales rep or account manager continue to have a role in influencing the b2b decision maker, but further empowering the sales force e.g. through education or increasing numbers, are not hitting at the root of our shared digital existence.
In sum, we are in the post-digital era i.e. at a point where it does not make sense to discuss digital in isolation. You should not do digital marketing, but marketing in a digital world.
.png)
