What the LinkedIn debate over a HockeyStack report says about B2B marketing

Here’s a question to consider: Does it take more than 250 touchpoints to close a B2B SaaS deal in today’s world?

That’s a lot of touchpoints. But B2B software sales are incredibly complicated things. They involve a lot of people.

Any sizable B2B SaaS deal includes:

• A buying committee.
• Influencers (not the ones you see on TikTok, but old-school influencers). 
• Lawyers. 
• Procurement professionals.
• Executives. 

Each of these roles has its own horse in the B2B SaaS buying race, which isn’t really a race at all because it takes months, in many cases, to get all of these people to agree on anything.

Here’s what happened on LinkedIn this week when HockeyStack, a software vendor that helps marketers with attribution and account analysis, released a report on B2B touchpoints. 

When a vendor like HockeyStack puts out a report, it expects opinions. That’s not a bad thing. Agree or disagree, the brand becomes part of the conversation. 

Love or hate Exit Five, the issue around transparency and sponsored posts is real. LinkedIn users should, by now, understand everyone has an angle. 

The most interesting part of the whole story is the battle for the soul of B2B marketing. There are now two camps for sure (and maybe more) with two very different views on what it is and how it should be done. 

The discussion around this report highlights the division.