In the last 5-10 years. B2B marketing has experienced a big change. Earlier, the main concentration of B2B marketing was on networking.
But do you know that marketers have now shifted their focus from cold calling and sales to digital marketing strategies?
According to Sarah Travis (Retail Industrial Director) at Google:
67% of purchases in industrial and manufacturing industries are influenced by digital transformation.
So, this linear transaction has converted into a complex buying process.
Looking at the impact of covid-19 in 2021, let’s watch out for these top 10 marketing trends that every marketer should know about.
1. AI-Based Marketing
Artificial Intelligence is known as the 4th industrial revolution.
It is important for every business. Well, do you know it is estimated by IDC that worldwide data will grow from 61% to 175% zettabytes?
So, artificial intelligence can manage a large amount of data on a real-time basis.
Only one out of five organizations are using AI for marketing and sales. Others are planning and evaluating to implement it.
It can be used to leverage technology and makes marketers more efficient and smarter.
Let’s see some popular AI-Based applications that will be opted in 2021.
● Every company would be focussing on analyzing unstructured data with the use of Chorus that helps in audio analysis and transcription of recorded calls.
● Platforms like Otter will be used to capture meeting notes.
2. Agile Approach
Agile marking is an approach inspired by software developers that aim at valuing speed to the market with optimization.
Well, marketers are planning to increase their agile approach in the next two years that will impact B2B marketing in-
● With an agile mindset, influence would be more on customers that will influence an organization’s planning, processing products, marketing, and sales activities.
● This will help to execute sudden operational and marketing changes, especially after the covid-19 era.
● Agile mainly focuses on testing and monitoring. This way marketers can monitor data and make necessary changes when the campaigns are in their beta mode.
● Agile supports A/B testing that can be leveraged in emails, landing pages, advertising, and social media.
3. Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
ABM is all about identifying and targeting specific accounts whom you want to sell.
Well, account-based marketing has emerged as the most significant way to modify customer success, sales, and marketing teams into full revenue generators.
However, by 2020 only a small percentage of firms have implemented ABM.
Still, 8% of firms are in pilot mode and another 43% are in the early stage of implementation.
In 2021, ABM will emerge as the most dominant strategy for B2B businesses as-
● The emphasis would be on generating revenue rather than attracting large amounts of leads. This will help to support the budget even after the pandemic.
● So, instead of wasting their time on misaligned prospects, marketers can target their specific clients.
● Companies would be more aligned towards ABM campaigns that involve personalized messaging components.
● Even after selecting ideal accounts, companies can engage with customers through consistent marketing.
4. Content Marketing
There will be a major shift change in 2021 for the committed brands who want to win through content marketing.
Trust me as a brand you aren’t planning to implement content marketing then either your marketing people will start with cold calling or advertising.
There is a massive increase in the customers for the companies that have opted for content marketing.
All they do is continuously publish the content based on keywords.
This way marketers can target their audience through perfect channels with an easy format.
Even google’s latest core update is driving towards content marketing.
5. Retention Marketing
Retention Marketing would be the next most favorable option that will trend in 2021.
It mainly includes a list of activities to maintain customer relationships with a higher marketing rate of investment.
It is easy to retain and sell rather than selling to a new customer.
After this covid-19 pandemic with a tight budget, companies are planning to sell their products and services to existing customers at higher prices.
This will increase their profits. As per the Harvard business review, a 5% increase in customer retention results in a 95% increase in profits.
So, the best ways to retain customers are:
● Constant Communication
● Customer Appreciation
● Surveys and Testimonials
● Customer Feedbacks
● Good Customer Support
● Sales After Service
6. Automated Advertising
Nowadays manual operations are unmanageable and ineffective without technology for a growing business.
When this happens automation becomes necessary.
Do you know by 2022, 80% of the advertising process would be automated.
Businesses would be able to optimize their campaigns for higher CTR and lower CPC.
This will also save nearly 30% of the time of advertisers.
Automation will also be helpful in:
● Customer Segmentation
● Bidding
● Lead Generation
● Budgets
● Analytics
● Keywords
● Lead Scoring
● Customer Lifecycle
Further enhancements would help advertisers in gaining transparency and cost-effectiveness.
7. Conversational Marketing
Chatbots are an essential part of conversational marketing.
Chatbots will continue to be an important business feature in 2021.
It is estimated that by 2021 about 80% of businesses will integrate some form of chatbots into their systems.
Well, chatbots are programmed to match human behavior and they can quickly reply to the queries of customers as customer representatives within a short time.
For instance, Alexa, Seri, and Google Assistant are already conversing with the customers based on their algorithms.
They also provide voice search features that will provide you information about your costumes and their needs.
Before you opt for this make sure you have the proper tools to install and work with this advanced technology.
8. Privacy and Security
Generally, consumers don’t trust organizations for their personally stored information.
In 2021 businesses will be working harder to protect the information of their prospects and customers.
Due to the strict privacy legislation by the General Data Protection Regulation in 2018, Companies are working hard to protect the sensitive data of their customers.
Website security would be the other key focus. If a visitor lands on the website they first judge the brand through its website.
If the website doesn’t look safe and secure to them then they are no more interested in buying the products online.
9. Micro-Moments
Micro-Moments was the term introduced by google that addresses the changing behavior of a customer.
These help the marketers to know about the preferences and decision making choices of a customer throughout their journey.
Based on their intent marketers can decide which product they should pitch to their customers.
They generally create a database of these moments and convert the relevant prospects into customers.
Micro-Moments can include watching something, discovering, searching, or scrolling continuously for similar products.
After the covid-19 pandemic when most of the companies are working remotely, it has become a trend to provide instant service based on their preferences.
10. Boosting Digital Marketing Online
Companies are planning to reach their target audience through the internet.
With the social media platforms of digital marketing and Google Adwords, companies are planning to increase their outreach to their customers.
Additionally, Quora, Reddit, Blogging, and Youtube are some of the platforms that will continue to remain in trends.
Even leveraging more strategic partnerships will be in trend to reach more people.
Beyond content marketing and advertising, then the main focus would be on organizing webinars and online events with complementary offerings.
This way marketers can plan and converse with their customers online through discussions, forums, and chatbox.
Conclusion
As 2021 is approaching, the main concentration would be on opting for new technologies, understanding buyer’s intent, security privacy, and managing their data.
Secondly, personalization with your customers will play an eminent role to set them apart from your competitors.
Digital transformation is another biggest landscape that would be in favor of B2B marketers.
B2B leaders are building strategies to focus on their marketing operations.
So, use take an account on these above mentioned latest trends. Design your marketing plan based on your past and current performance.
