Day in the Life of a B2B Marketing Account Manager

Generally speaking, B2B marketing gets a bad rep. The complex sales cycles are long, the products are often higher-priced, and there’s typically an entire committee of people that need to be brought on board before a buying decision is made. Compared with the creative, fast-moving world of B2C marketing, it’s easy to see why B2B is sometimes thought of as dull [i]. However, the industry is changing. Thanks to the rise of internet technology and mobile connectivity, buyers are able to research products and services online, in their own time. In fact, decision-makers are now 60-90% of the way through their buying journey by the time they contact a vendor, and they’re no longer waiting for outbound sales calls to introduce products [ii].

So how are B2B marketers meeting these changing needs? By writing engaging content, utilising social media, and creating innovative campaigns that will build relationships with today’s savvy prospects, that’s how.

Now that we’ve established that B2B marketing isn’t all sales calls and data analysis, we wanted to share some insight to the industry. We’ve surveyed a number of B2B marketers to find out the projects they’re working on, the clients they’re working for, and what they get up to each day. In order to present a snapshot of this exciting industry…

Here’s a ‘day in the life’ of a typical B2B Account Manager…

8.20am: Arrive at the office. Grab some coffee , check emails, and action any urgent client correspondence.

8.45am: Team arrives. Go through ‘work in progress’ document to discuss plans for the day  and ensure everyone is on track 

9.00am: First client call of the day  Discuss their ongoing lead generation goals and catch up on the wider rebranding strategy.

9.30am: Talk to account executive about implementing, monitoring, and measuring email campaigns.

9.50am: Tea run! Most marketing agencies go through a lot of tea and coffee, and B2B marketing is no different.

10.00am: Sit down with in-house copywriter to go through the plans for an upcoming ebook .

10.30am: Sit down with creative team to discuss concepts for a direct mail campaign involving swatch booklets.

12.00pm: Compile reports for upcoming client meeting, and finalise slides on presentation.

12.30pm: Second client call of the day 

1.00pm:  Lunch break with colleagues.

1.30pm: Drive to a meeting with clients at their UK headquarters. Present plan for next quarter’s marketing strategy, and discuss renewal options for the coming year.

4.00pm: Return to the office and compile contact report that outlines immediate actions from the meeting.

4.30pm: Chase data providers on whereabouts of an important piece of data.

4.45pm: Daily cake break (wherever B2B marketers are, cake is never far away.)

5.00pm: Liaise with telemarketers  regarding next week’s campaigns.

5.30pm: Gather team for a debrief, and discuss plans for tomorrow.

6.00pm: Leave office for the evening, ready to do it all again tomorrow 

 

And this is just one day. According to our recent survey of B2B marketers, the aspect of their job they enjoy the most is that no two days are ever the same [Really B2B internal survey, Feb 2016]. With different clients to keep track of, various campaigns to work on, and new and exciting content to generate, it’s clear that B2B marketers are passionate about modern marketing.

 

If B2B marketing sounds like an industry you’d like to get into, have a look at our Careers page to see our latest vacancies and find out if your dream role is waiting for you…