Technology buyers fall into one of three categories in response to the pandemic: survivors, adapters, and pioneers. As a technology marketer, you cannot operate “marketing as usual” if you want to truly help your customers survive, adapt, or pioneer — and build interest and trust along the way.

Forrester Consulting sees our marketing clients taking three approaches right now to better connect with and support their customers. They are:

  1. Creating communities to share expert advice with peers.

Modern B2B buyers expect to be treated as partners by your company rather than targets. What they value right now is support and advice on how to solve their specific challenges, including insights on how their peers within the industry are coping. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions’ videos and posts on how we’re all #InItTogether are an example of creating and engaging a community. Bloomreach created a podcast series to help guide B2B and B2C eCommerce decision makers through the pandemic, tapping into this increasingly popular medium to provide advice from industry experts specializing in a range of eCommerce topics. Another global technology vendor is working with leading business school INSEAD to provide monthly expert-led crisis management workshops for its digital agency clients, allowing them to connect with peers and experts on industry-specific issues.

  1. Connecting with buyers through repurposed content.

Updating existing thought leadership assets with fresh research and repurposing it into engaging digital formats is a low-cost/high-value way to empathetically connect with buyers. Top marketers are adapting existing content with new pandemic research to provide insights and advice relevant to their buyers’ current challenges. For example, Tanium created a two-page executive brief to show how key findings from thought leadership research conducted last year now fit within the context of the pandemic. VMware turned its cybersecurity event and two-day conference into virtual events and prerecorded virtual Q&A sessions with industry experts to feature in both.

  1. Preparing relevant, credible thought leadership for six to 12 months from now.

Do you have data-backed, credible content that reflects how your customers’ challenges are evolving? Some marketers are creating new data-led thought leadership to explore the impact the pandemic is having on their buyers. For example, Experian is gathering new insights about business resilience in economic uncertainty. This research will fuel its marketing content with fresh buyer insights during the next six to 12 months. Its marketers recognize that uncertainty creates an opportunity to prepare thought leadership content by learning how customers and prospects are adjusting to this sudden change in demand and economic outlook. Will your content differentiate you when talking about “the new normal”?