Scott Thaler
CMO
Scott Thaler is a brand, performance, and omni-channel marketing executive with accomplishments that span digital start-ups, prominent retail enterprises, and integrated agencies.
The Attention Advantage: What B2B CMOs Must Embrace to Grow
In today’s crowded B2B landscape, attention has become the most valuable currency. Brands that win are the ones who know how to earn it, hold it, and multiply it.
For B2B CMOs, the landscape has changed. And changed a lot. Growth is no longer driven solely by the number of leads captured or the volume of outbound campaigns. In today’s oversaturated digital ecosystem, the critical currency is attention and how your brand earns, holds, and multiplies it.
Decision-makers are bombarded with content. They spend less time engaging with brands, rely more on peer validation, and move through complex, non-linear purchase journeys. In this reality, traditional marketing strategies aren’t enough.
What’s needed is a fundamental reframe: from demand capture to attention command.
Attention builds the foundation for pipeline. Without it, no campaign, content, or media strategy can succeed. The brands that will win in the near future and beyond are the ones that own attention early, consistently, and at scale.
From SaaS and aerospace to financial services and healthcare, we’re seeing the same pattern: economic headwinds, slower deal velocity, and rising scrutiny over spend. What’s emerging is a demand-neutral environment, where capturing intent is no longer enough. Companies must also create demand, and that begins with building their brand.
The most effective B2B marketers will prioritize mental availability over lead acquisition. According to industry data, the optimal budget allocation for top-performing B2B brands is now 46% brand / 54% demand, with brand investment generating long-term lift in awareness, trust, and conversion effectiveness.
AI has exploded across the marketing landscape. It’s transforming how many create, personalize, and scale content. But it’s also creating a new challenge. Content fatigue.
In a recent survey, 81% of B2B marketers reported using generative AI tools like ChatGPT. Yet only 4% fully trust the content produced, and just 19% have integrated AI into their workflows in a meaningful way. What’s the result? An internet flooded with lookalike articles, generic white papers, and hollow thought leadership.
Here’s what’s being lost: differentiation, authority, and trust.
AI can accelerate production, but it cannot replicate insight, originality, or human nuance. It cannot tell your brand story in a way that evokes belief or builds affinity.
We see AI as an accelerator, not a strategist. The best content still comes from the intersection of deep market understanding, creative bravery, and audience empathy. Our approach combines machine efficiency with human creativity. We are always creating with the intent to rise above the noise, not just add to it.
Just creating content isn’t king. Distinctive, credible, human content will rule the kingdom.
As new customer acquisition becomes costlier and more competitive, smart marketers are turning inward toward the audiences they’ve already won.
While frameworks and playbooks are excellent at structuring the operational side of strategy, what’s often missing is the creative courage, brand distinctiveness, and emotional intelligence that turn a plan into a market-winning one. After decades of helping global B2B brands build category leadership, these are the five moves I recommend CMOs make to stay ahead:
1. Prioritize share of attention over share of voice: Market share follows mindshare. Focus on building early-stage awareness and emotional resonance, not just filling the funnel. Fame isn’t vanity; it’s a competitive advantage.
2. Double down on brand-demand integration: The most effective programs don’t separate brand and demand. They build connected journeys that inform, inspire, and convert. It’s time to break silos and build a unified strategy.
3. Embrace AI with guardrails: AI should be a tool for amplification, not a replacement for insight or originality. Protect your voice, your values, and your customers’ trust by blending human creativity with AI-driven scale.
4. Make customer growth a marketing priority: Your best marketing asset isn’t your latest product. It’s your happiest customer. Design experiences and content that turn retention into revenue, and customers into advocates.
5. Be bold or be forgotten: In a world of sameness, safety is risky. Be brave with your creative. Challenge the category. Leave a mark that your audience — and your competitors — won’t forget.
This is what I can tell you. Playing it safe will not get the job done. Playing it safe is the fastest way to disappear. The brands that dare to be distinct, and the CMOs who choose courage over convention, will be the ones everyone else is chasing.
