5 Ways B2B Marketing is Changing

Traditional business-to-business (B2B) marketing relies on the use of blogs, white papers, webinars, trade shows, and email campaigns to drive success in providing your products to other businesses. But as the face of B2B continues to change, it's more important than ever that your company stays on top of the latest and greatest trends.

Want to ensure your next marketing campaign utilizes trending B2B marketing? Here are 5 ways that B2B marketing is changing and how you can keep up.

1. Video is King

B2B marketing is only successful if you provide helpful and informative information, and while blogs and other text-based content are expected, the fact is that video content is what drives a good amount of traffic and buzz. A study found that more than half (52%) of marketing professionals believe that video content offers the best return on investment.

But why is video the top content option these days? Younger generations prefer video content. Video is much more interesting to watch (and listen to!) when compared to plain text content. Videos are engaging which means that your target audience is much more likely to get the message you're getting across.

From Visually.

Using video in B2B marketing is as simple as creating videos and posting them on social networks. It's best to keep videos short and sweet so that you don't lose interest. To optimize video content, be sure to use location-based filters, tags, and closed captions.

2. Growing Use of Influencers

Making a name for your company on your own and solidifying your online reputation is possible, but if you're looking to have a measurable impact in the social world, it pays to have influencers who can also push the benefits and usefulness of your company. One study found that tweets from influencers improved purchase intent by 5 times the average.

But how do you go about finding the right influencer for your next B2B marketing campaign? The first step is to find popular bloggers or vloggers that fit within your niche. There are all sorts of tools you can use to identify industry influencers such as:

• Hootsuite
• Followerwonk
• TrendSpottr
• Buzzsumo

Once you’ve identified an influencer, the next step is to reach out to them. Most influencers are quite happy to help out a company, so be polite and don’t be afraid to be straightforward. For even better targeting, you can combine influencer marketing and Sponsored Content. This allows you to build an authentic connection within your target audience.

3. Emphasis on Mobile Marketing

As a growing number of people use mobile devices to conduct day-to-day necessities like using social media, banking, and even reading reviews, mobile device users have become an ever-growing target audience for businesses. For B2B marketing, including mobile-based content and campaigns into your overall plan is a must.

Not only do mobile phone users use their device to communicate, they also use them to make their purchasing decisions. In fact, 41% of consumers use their smartphone to conduct research before buying a product. As a B2B marketer, this means that you’ll want to hone in on using mobile marketing techniques such as SMS and MMS messaging along with livestreaming, responsive web design, one-click purchasing, and the use of apps.

By putting a greater emphasis on mobile marketing, you greatly increase your chance of making new leads and conversions.

4. Relevance is Key

In the past, posting blogs and making routine social media updates was enough to get your company the visibility it needs. Today we live in a world where millions of minutes of video are posted each day, along with millions of other types of content. For any company to succeed in B2B marketing, relevance has to be a top priority.

This means that all content that you post must be relevant, timely, and relatable. No matter if you’re creating content about the best marketing books or industry trends for 2019, any content you publish has to be relevant for your intended audience. Otherwise you’ll waste time and money creating blogs, videos and other content that no one will pay much attention to.

5. Focus on Digital Resources

In the past, sales were made through a salesman, but today's customers and businesses are looking for something more convenient. Many of today's sales take place with very limited human interaction. This makes the process far more convenient for buyers and sellers alike.

Now's the time to make the shift from focusing on salespeople to using digital resources that give users the information they need to make an informed purchase. By providing resources such as an online assistant, live chat, reviews, and social media, you can give consumers the information they need in a quick and hassle-free way.

Conclusion

B2B marketing has changed throughout the years and is likely to continue to change as new technology, social networks, and different types of content are introduced. Keeping on track with the trends is important if you want your business to keep up with competition, so keep these 5 marketing options in mind as you move forward.

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