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- Oct 11, 2021
- 4 min read
The only way for businesses to survive 2021 is to embrace the ongoing digital
transformation. Recovery as well as growth for any organization in the post-pandemic era
depends on how well they utilize the available marketing strategies. As conventional
outbound marketing strategies are no longer 'safe,' digital sales and marketing strategies have witnessed a huge acceleration.
Although, this shift is not new since B2B marketing had already been on an evolutionary path since the internet services reached the masses in around 2008 and people actively began using search engines. However, the infamous COVID-1 pandemic precipitated the process of digitalization in marketing. This sudden shift has uncovered numerous opportunities in the field of marketing.
Here are a few B2B marketing trends to watch out for in 2021 to prepare yourself for the
future of marketing.
1) AI-Powered Marketing
Underestimating the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 2021 can prove to be a huge
mistake as this so-called "4th Industrial Revolution" is famous for being much more efficient and smarter in streamlining almost all marketing and routine tasks. Although only a few industry leaders at present can understand and afford to use Artificial Intelligence
technologies, the rapid growth in technology has pushed more organizations to plan and
evaluate the implementation of AI for their businesses.
Understanding the latest AI-Powered marketing trends like Client Insights, Personality Insights, Buyer Intent data, Predictive Analytics, Lead Scoring, etc., can help you tap the available opportunities and aid in devising personalized marketing strategies that can allow you to stay ahead of your competitors.
2) Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Approach
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a dominant strategy that can revolutionize the processes
of sales, marketing, and customer satisfaction. ABM is based on account awareness in which
an organization considers and communicates with individual prospects or customer accounts
as markets of one.
According to a research from Terminus, only a small percentage of businesses are implementing ABM optimally. 8% of businesses are still in pilot mode and 43% are in the early stages of implementation. But only 13% say their sales and marketing teams are fully integrated into their ABM program. ABM's focus on revenue instead of leads makes it a customer-oriented strategy that aims to protect the existing revenue base. This shift in focus from customer acquisition to customer retention has enabled organizations to generate revenue even when their budgets have tightened.
3) Use of Video Content
With an increase in online marketing strategies, video content has proved to be one of the
best ways to garner public attention and disseminate information about a particular product or service. However, video content is not just limited to B2C sales. In a study by LinkedIn in
2018, around 62% of B2B marketers voted for video content to be their preferred choice.
Other formats like e-mail and infographics trailed behind it in the list as they could not match the popularity of visual content. Organizations can focus on creating relevant and unique video content like Television ads, videos, etc. to engage, educate and shape the opinions of their customers through visuals.
4) Buyer Enablement
Buyer enablement helps buyers buy by providing them with the right information that can help them navigate and support the completion of critical purchase activities. In a survey of more than 250 B2B companies by Gartner, it was found that 77% of them rated their purchase process as extremely difficult or complex. This complexity of making a purchase decision can be attributed to the availability of high-quality information to buyers in abundance.
Every new information instils a sense of insecurity and the buyer revisits his decision to arrive at a logical conclusion. Buyer enablement can be seen as a much-needed support system that can help buyers make informed purchasing decisions. By creating buyer- centric content, an organization can create a buyer-first world. By reducing any kind of friction along the buyer's journey via phone, email, live chat, social media, or website, a company's buyer-centric approach can become its most valuable marketing asset.
5) Omnichannel Marketing
To form a unified customer experience, omnichannel marketing aligns sales efforts with marketing across all distribution channels. It makes use of multiple channels to tap the various prospects available at every stage of the sales funnel. It makes sure that the audience gets a chance to engage in relevant interactions and feedbacks to improve the engagement with your brand across different channels- physical as well as digital. This type of marketing ensures that a customer has a positive and consistent experience on each channel by offering a consistent and identifiable brand tone, personalized messaging based on specific interests, and a chance to find and purchase online, in-store, or a combination thereof - such as “buy online and pick up in-store.”
Conclusion
The only constant in the world of marketing is the changing trends. By keeping an eye on the
new trends, an organization can gauge the available opportunities or threats effectively.
Growing demand for customer experience management has encouraged companies to adopt novice strategies and many hyper-personalized marketing strategies to drive
conversions. Since customer spending altered drastically in 2020 with a similar trend in 2021, embracing marketing changes and digitalization is the only way to move forward.
