Innovation Boom: Why B2B Marketing should now focus on architectures instead of actions

In the increasingly dynamic world of B2B marketing, relying solely on short-term measures is no longer sufficient. A marketing architecture emphasising continuous improvement and flexible adaptation to market changes is crucial for sustainable success.

• Differentiation in the AI and content explosion era becomes a “long game.”
• Thoughtful strategies and progressive goals create sustainable competitive advantages and motivate teams.
• Roles within teams are evolving – and architects are needed, whether from within or externally.

A Plan is not a Strategy.

Have you heard of Roger Martin? He is a renowned strategy expert and former Dean of the Rotman School of Management. Martin advises CEOs worldwide and has been repeatedly recognized as an influential thinker in business, including ranking third on the Thinkers50 list. He holds degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

However, he is best known in marketing circles for his viral 2022 lecture, “A Plan is Not a Strategy.” He explains the common misconception that planning and strategy are synonymous. His main points are:

1. Strategy is an integrated set of choices that positions a company to win.
2. Planning involves controllable resources and costs, whereas strategy focuses on uncontrollable outcomes and revenues.
3. Strategy development requires stepping out of one’s comfort zone and taking calculated risks.

A similar misunderstanding often occurs in marketing organizations, where strategy is equated with marketing actions. Actions are specific activities, such as campaigns or events, focusing on controllable elements. A marketing strategy, however, is a comprehensive approach that considers unpredictable market conditions and customer behaviour. Equating actions with strategy can lead companies to focus too much on short-term goals and lose sight of the bigger picture.

As Martin emphasizes, a genuine marketing strategy requires taking calculated risks and stepping out of one’s comfort zone. Additionally, a strategy needs a vision and a desired outcome that looks to the future rather than merely analyzing the past.

To achieve this outcome, more than a series of actions is needed—a well-thought-out architecture is required. This is the only way to achieve sustainable competitive advantages and long-term success, including a coherent customer experience that is rewarded by people.

Actions vs. Architectures in the Innovation Boom

In today’s flood of innovations and data, it’s understandable that marketers rely on the latter to avoid facing the former. Data-driven optimization of already launched actions only takes a company so far. This may seem like a long stretch today, but with the advent of AI and technologies that make working with data, creating content, and flooding the digital space with messages easier, the end of this stretch is quickly reached. It’s like a race: when everyone has an F1 car, everyone gets to the finish line very quickly. But what comes after? Perhaps the goal is not set far enough, not thought through enough. What happens when all actions are evaluated, optimized, and relaunched, evaluated, optimized and relaunched, evaluated…?

Exactly, stagnation sets in. The actions of all competitors begin to resemble each other. We’ve seen this in product development across various industries. While this has led to consistently high quality for consumers (e.g., smartphones, laptops, razors), it has the potential to fatally bore or annoy recipients of corporate communications.

So what to do? The answer can only be: take calculated risks, keep the vision at the end of all actions in mind, continually develop, and not lose sight of it – not during personnel changes, not during technology changes, not during market turbulence.

Does this seem almost impossible through the lens of everyday business? Perhaps, but the future belongs to architectures, not actions. Plus, everyday business is also rapidly evolving, opening up new possibilities and flexibility.

Thought follows Tech: Why the AI Explosion necessitates Architectures.

By architectures, we mean long-term plans. Plans that consider a certain degree of the unknown and allow flexibility despite a fixed goal – accounting for the new partner, the new innovation, the new competitor, without breaking down. It’s about creating strategic plans, platforms, and creative ideas designed for development from the outset – no more “one-shots.” Because of increasing complexity and the rising possibilities of the already visible content explosion and the resulting changes in user behaviour, differentiation becomes a “long game.”

Here is a current example that – with a little transfer of performance – shows that users in the digital space appreciate longevity:

To stand out from the competition, British GQ is now focusing on a long-term content strategy that does not aim at quick, algorithm-driven articles but at long-lasting and relevant content.

Neha-Tamara Patel, Director of Audience Development, explained that this shift helped strengthen audience engagement and reduce churn.

GQ’s architecture is not only designed for the long term, but the long term itself—a natural vision for such a publication—is the vision on the horizon. GQ has recognized the AI-enabled explosion of content and convenience and is no longer trying to compete on these two points.

Cost and Culture: Why Controllers and Colleagues love true Architects, too.

Thinking in architectures also pays off internally: After all, taking advantage of the ever-increasing number of opportunities to reach your customers and prospects costs a lot of money. Expensive “one-shots” are not advantageous here either. Ideally, created and/or used touchpoints by corporate marketing can be further developed, linked, and repurposed – and not by the one partner sitting on the technology and benefiting from his small monopoly, but by any partner or internal expert.

These architectures must be open and flexible enough for anyone – internally or externally – to be involved without exploding costs to work towards the set goal. A goal that ideally evolves and moves forward steadily.

Such a progressive goal may seem unattainable, but it can motivate teams like a guiding star and drive development.

A progressive goal in marketing means continuously working to improve the customer experience, always responding flexibly to market changes, and promoting innovative approaches. It can serve as a guiding star for marketers and motivate teams.

More Complexity, more Competence, more Colleagues – more Planning?

 With new possibilities come new specialists who can take advantage of them but must also delve deeply into them. Specialization in certain fields becomes even more specialized. This means further fragmentation of deep competencies within teams and among external partners. The result: More colleagues contribute key elements to a marketing architecture at specific points.

Like in music, more subgenres of competencies are emerging. Skills branch out in specific fields, such as technical disciplines, through “new” disciplines and sub-disciplines. Overlap at the ends of the spectrum – in the depth of these competencies – becomes smaller. At the same time, colleagues find empowerment through AI in other fields by now accessing “old” skills and resources in copywriting, HTML, and image creation.

The talent pool is growing, and the distribution of skills is changing. A plan is needed for this. But who plans?

When many roles  converge into one: The Architects

So, let’s get to the point: architects must design, steer, and continually develop these plans, maintain the view from above, and defend the vision—whether internally or externally. This role involves strategic and creative expertise and social skills. The architect’s role must be friendly but neutral—strong feelings should be evoked in the target groups, not within teams. The architect is also a translator, mediator, and occasionally a coach.

The architect also plays the role of an impulse giver. Amid innovation, marketing teams, embedded in organizational structures and navigating daily politics, need someone who brings things from the outside in. (Hence our inevitable plea for partners like us.) Whether one can perform this role within an organisation is also a matter of time. And let’s be honest: even the most neutral internal innovation scout will eventually start seeing through the company lens. It’s only natural, as they live within a hierarchy where the path to the top dictates the direction of action.

Finally, another argument for external architects is impulses from other industries and clients. When projecting a new building with the client, the architect brings the experience of two skyscrapers, an opera hall, seven single-family homes, and three bungalows.

Conclusion.

In the complex world of B2B marketing, well-thought-out architectures are key to long-term success. They allow companies to react flexibly to changes while pursuing a clear vision. Whether internal or external, architects play a crucial role by combining strategic and creative expertise with social skills, thereby creating sustainable competitive advantages.

If you want to learn more about strengthening your marketing strategy through architectures, contact us. Let’s create inspiring experiences together that will drive your business forward.