In a constantly evolving business world, new tools are always emerging that — if leveraged properly — can help any business-to-business enterprise better connect with its customers and foster company growth. Is your B2B business harnessing the latest, most powerful trends to step up its success?
Consider these five leading-edge B2B marketing trends compiled by The Brandon Agency that are shaping the space in 2021, and be sure to dig deeper into any that might meet a need or provide a boost for your brand:
1. Marketing automation
By utilizing marketing automation tools to streamline workflows, B2B brands can accomplish more with less effort — both stretching their budgets and freeing up staff members for other high-priority tasks. Further, not only can these tools streamline processes for B2B businesses, they can also minimize human error and improve results while doing so.
While email marketing automation software may be the first of these offerings to spring to most marketers’ minds, the range of marketing-automation tools available can assist in a broad array of B2B marketing-related tasks, including:
- Customer relationship management
- Social media marketing, publishing, scheduling and monitoring
- Digital advertising and promotion
- Audience segmentation and targeting
- Analytics and reporting
- Lead generation and nurturing
- Sales force automation
- and more
2. Account-based marketing
Most B2B enterprises tend to cast a wide net with their marketing efforts, broadly targeting a long list of potential customers within a targeted industry segment — or even across the entire target industry. Instead, enterprises could focus sales and marketing efforts on a handful of key accounts that are more likely to convert. B2B companies employing account-based marketing can increase personalization and develop deeper, stronger relationships with potential and current customers — and in turn realize a higher ROI on their efforts and spending.
3. Video marketing
We’ve been saying for years that video should be a prominent part of brands’ marketing plans, and its long-running effectiveness holds clear sway in the B2B world as well. Video simply has a nearly unrivaled ability to catch consumers’ eyes when they see it, and according to reports, 70% of B2B buyers view videos before making a purchase. Especially with more consumers spending above-average amounts of time at home as a result of the lingering coronavirus pandemic, the vitality of video content in support of marketing messaging doesn’t look to be fading anytime soon.
4. Interactive content
For years, having a strong content strategy has been a key to increasing B2B brands’ website traffic via SEO-boosting tactics like providing quality content and placing targeted keywords. And while these tactics are still highly recommended, more and more brands are discovering that interactive content is a great way to both draw in website visitors and ramp up their engagement once they arrive. This tool — most commonly delivered in the form of quizzes/assessments, polls and contests — has proven highly effective at not only grabbing consumers’ attention, but keeping it. And according to a Content Marketing Institute survey, 81% of respondents said that interactive content is more effective than static content at grabbing consumers’ attention. Further, 79% reported that, when employed alongside conventional marketing tactics, incorporating interactive content can serve to boost consumers’ retention of brand messaging.
5. Email marketing personalization
When building a truly strong and lasting relationship, establishing and nurturing a personal connection is essential — and this everyday truth applies in the marketing world, too. So, when B2B brands can leverage the data they have about customers and prospective customers to add a personal touch to their marketing communications and deliver content that is relevant to consumers’ specific situations and interests, their marketing efforts can become substantially more effective. Offering just a glimpse of the improved results that personalization can bring about for B2B marketers, Campaign Monitor reports that simply segmenting email campaigns can increase their revenues by more than 750%, and that adding personalization to email subject lines boosts open rates by more than 25%.
Could your B2B brand benefit from some professional marketing guidance? At The Brandon Agency, our team of certified brand strategists and data-driven marketing experts has helped clients in an array of industries boost the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. Further, TBA’s fully integrated marketing firm can cover the full spectrum of your brand’s marketing needs, including brand strategy, web design, creative, media, e-commerce, analytics, social media, SEO, conversion rate optimization, and more. To get started with help ranging from a simple website analysis to a comprehensive strategy tailored to boost the performance of all of your marketing campaigns, contact us today.