In recent years, B2B marketing has undergone major changes. Now that digital content has become the driving force behind all B2B strategies, it’s important for companies to stay on top of the latest developments.
Being an early adopter of emerging trends provides a competitive advantage over companies that just do what they’ve always done.
B2B trends in 2021
For this 2021, B2B growth strategy will adapt to B2C strategy, which prioritizes customers and builds brand awareness and trust to capitalize on market excitement.
Marketers have shifted their focus from sales and unpopular calls to digital content marketing strategies and search engine optimization strategies to attract new customers.
Omnichannel marketing
Omnichannel marketing uses multiple channels to form a unified customer experience.
Omnichannel marketing aligns sales efforts with marketing across all distribution channels, allowing them to get relevant interactions no matter how the target audience engages with your business.
Omnichannel marketing can reduce shopper friction, which is a key factor in spinning the front wheels.
Content marketing: videos, infographics, webinars….
In recent months, content marketing has become increasingly important. According to Statista data, in the month of August 2020, 27.2% of global viewers watch more than 10 hours of online video each week.
Short, informative videos can clearly and powerfully illustrate this point. However, video is not the only option available. Webinars replaced live broadcasts during the pandemic.
According to statistics from Edison Research and Triton Digital, by 2020, the average time spent listening to podcasts among Americans 12 and older in the United States will increase to 6 hours and 39 minutes.
Infographics, quizzes, polls and more interactive content can help your brand stand out, while the use of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality can immerse your audience in your brand.
As B2B marketers communicate with thought leaders via email or blogs, written words are still important. With the emergence of online content, more investment and focus should be put into SEO and SEM, especially in the following three key areas:
- Semantic search: a search that focuses on the meaning of the search query, not just keyword matching.
- Search intent: the main objective of the search query.
- Voice search: use voice commands for search queries.
Marketing automation by AI
Artificial intelligence, machine learning and marketing automation tools can help marketing teams save on budgets and expand their reach.
Likewise, AI marketing automation can help with targeting, segmentation, personalization, lead scoring, predictive analytics and even content generation.
More and more organizations will use artificial intelligence and automation rather than be eliminated by competitors.
Retention marketing
Marketers are also focused on retaining existing customers, not just trying to acquire new ones. Retention marketing has played a major role in keeping existing customers engaged and building deeper, longer-lasting relationships with them.
Personalized and relevant content helps demonstrate that marketers understand the customer, their pain points and the process they went through.
A/B Testing: A way to find out what the customer wants
Using A/B and multivariate testing can help them understand what the audience responds and doesn’t respond to, the channels they like, and the offers and information they are interested in. It can show marketers when to change direction.
Chatbots
Chatbots are an essential part of web design and will continue to act as an important business feature in 2021. Globally, 67% of consumers reported using a chatbox support system in the past year.
Many customers are beginning to expect quick answers to their questions and customer service representatives available 24/7.