A good start to think of the B2B marketing trends is to weigh in all the options available in the digital marketing field. This is an ever-growing field with many options. With the constant advancement in technology and techniques, B2B marketers believe to deliver more and become pivotal to their organisation. This also demands a continual update with the latest trends, products, innovations, and channels.
Here we are going to talk about few B2B marketing trends that we have seen only yot grow in multitudes and be useful manifolds.
- Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is the perfect approach for B2B marketing. It helps in lead generation and nurturing leads with relevant content. Automation helps in tracking down the whole journey right from lead conversion to purchase made. It gives you insight about your customer and their needs, helping you to design your marketing strategy based on this information.
- Refocus back to Customer
It is time to shift the focus back to the customers. Ever since the global financial crisis, the companies focused on cost reduction, product and price. But now it is everything about the customer. Plans should be made base dn insights and feedback from the customer. Getting to actually know the customer, what they want, dream about, challenges they are facing, and what can make their lives easier.
In short, making everything about the customer.
- Content Marketing
Content marketing is one of the techniques best used in B2B marketing for many years. In recent times, the in-bound marketing has been given more importance like to share blogs and social media activity. Over the years, content marketing has been seen to be more effective and likeable by the customers. It is a great tactic by b2B marketers because long customer journey means the buyer wants to compare and research before buying any product.
- Mobile-friendly
This goes without saying – mobile-friendly is one thing that should not be kept on backfoot. Most of the B2B buyers are known to make purchase using mobile device. This is only the start and with years it is only going to be used more for convenience. The world is our palms has made every buyer depend on the smartphone for better research. In simple words, mobile can now not be an afterthought, it is the cornerstone of B2B marketing strategies.
- Go Live!
Audio and Video marketing are taking the platform by chase, but what we have seen is that social media platforms serve more than just this. Famous brands and celebrities are going Live on their pages on different social media handles. Using Facebook Live and Periscope, it has become a customer marketing tool. Live streaming is going to take B2B marketing to a next level. It is the right time to think of what you can do with it.
You can have a Q&A session for customers, give a tour of your office to your prospective employees, or just show how your products work. It is more of a face to face conversation, virtually.
- Back to Paper prints
Email marketing is the most easy, effective as ell cost-effective way to reach to any prospects, worldwide. The reach one company gains from email marketing is immeasurable. But then, email marketing done by many companies only result in cluttering in your mail inbox. So, how do you wish to stand out? Going to print papers is what marketers are using to cut through all the ‘digital clutter’. Personalising it like gone years only means more attention by the customers.
- Influencer Marketing
The use of brand advocates is now commonplace in consumer marketing. Brands are partnering with celebrities to promote their products and co-create original content. Influencer marketing isn’t new, and will mature in 2017, but harnessing the power of individuals to get your brand in front of your target audience will move more and more into the B2B space this year.
Every sector has its key players, people whose opinion is listened to and respected by those who hold budgets. Expect to see more and more of them using their social media platforms, attending events, giving interviews and sharing content to promote B2B products and services. Further to this, the rise of micro-influencers will be seen over the next 12 months with businesses seeking out and partnering with niche influencers who can provide credibility and trust to a brand and affect the B2B sales cycle.
The marketing trends evolve with the evolving technology and reach one can gain with the new techniques. The techniques, at times, never change, what changes are the time when those techniques can be useful. Learning marketing every year with the moving trends always requires one to be updated with the world.
