the top b2b marketing trends to prioritizeincreasingly, mobile is the future of b2b marketing....
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The Top B2B Marketing Trends to Prioritize
B2B marketing is undergoing seismic transformations. With a focus
on attracting and engaging a better target audience, tactics, tools,
and strategies are evolving that underscore the need for better data,
better customer experience, and better marketing attribution.
The catalyst behind these evolutions is the realization that the line between
B2B and B2C marketing has blurred; campaigns must be humanized
to target people, not organizations. Several B2B marketing trends have
emerged that center around those three core needs: data, customer
experience, and attribution.
Continue reading to learn more.
MASTERING MOBILE
MARKETING
Business gets done on the go, and reaching today’s decision-
makers means designing campaigns and high-impact content
that renders seamlessly on multiple mobile devices and platforms.
For many B2B companies, it also means app development to drive
engagement and enhance the buying journey. According to the
U.S. Mobile App Report, consumers spend 52% of their mobile
time using apps, and Localytics discovered that over 50% of app
users elect to receive push notifications on their smartphones.
50% of B2B customers are searching for and reviewing products on their mobile devices.
According to a study reported at CMO.com, mobile B2B traffic will
outpace mobile B2C traffic in the coming years. Currently, over 50%
of B2B customers are searching for and reviewing products on their
mobile devices. Further, a study by Acquity Group on procurement
showed that 35% of respondents made a B2B purchase on a
mobile device in 2014.
How it works:
Why it works:
* marketing technology reviews on Industry Index
Increasingly, mobile is the future of B2B marketing.
According to a recent survey, about 52% of all B2B
businesses incorporate mobile sales, and 75%
plan to use it by the end of 2015. In addition,
42% plan to increase their mobile marketing
budgets this year. Responsive web design, mobile
email marketing campaigns, and mobile app
development are logical starting points in a mobile
marketing strategy, followed by integrating CRM
and marketing automation software with mobile
for better data collection and analytics.
Contextual awareness is also essential in mobile
marketing; today’s B2B decision-makers use more
than one device. Marketers need insight into which
devices their audience members are using for
which activities along their path to purchase in
order to identify pain points in the cross-screen
experience.
52% of all B2B businesses incorporate mobile sales.
ENHANCING MICROTARGETING & PERSONALIZATION
Marketing execs leverage big data and analytics to better identify
target audiences and respond in real-time with personalized content
that addresses their specific needs. According to Tim Asimos of
Circle S Studio, “We will see a push for more comprehensive and
meaningful personas, leading to more ‘micro’ targeted marketing
activities with an eye to increased relevancy and effectiveness.”
Microtargeting and personalization improves the customer experience
by creating timely and relevant one-to-one interactions.
How it works:
Why it works:
CORRELATING DIGITAL
STRATEGIES
Marketing departments support digital campaigns with an interrelated
stack of marketing technology tools to ensure a unified and consistent
user experience across all marketing channels.
Using a marketing technology portfolio enhances brand awareness,
drives engagement, and shortens the sales cycle by coordinating
and optimizing campaign elements such as websites, landing pages,
and paid amplification strategies.
How it works:
Why it works:
TOP 4 SOCIAL NETWORKING PLATFORMS THAT B2B MARKETERS USE
YouTube
91%
85%
81%
73%
INVESTING IN INFLUENCER MARKETING
Influencer marketing, at its core, means leveraging thought leaders and
other individuals who exert influence over a company’s target audience.
Properly executed, influencer marketing helps C-suite executives and
internal experts find a trustworthy voice that promotes the brand’s or
individual’s thought leadership or trust factor.
LinkedIn’s eBook, “The Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide to Thought Leadership,”
states that influencer marketing leads to more inbound inquiries, increased
close rates, shorter sales cycles, and increased customer loyalty. Prospects are much
more likely to convert after being influenced by trusted sources.
How it works:
Why it works:
Content marketing priorities will focus on crafting a documented strategy,
evaluating ROI, incorporating video and infographics, integrating content
marketing across all channels, and increasing resource allocation to
content marketing strategies.
FINE-TUNING & PRIORITIZING
A DOCUMENTED CONTENT STRATEGY
60% of marketers with a documented content marketing strategy considered their strategy highly effective.
According to the Content Marketing Institute’s B2B Content Marketing
Report, 60% of marketers with a documented content marketing strategy
considered their strategy highly effective compared to only 32% who only
had a verbal strategy. The study also indicated that only 21% felt that they were
successful in tracking ROI; the vast majority planned to increase efforts in this area.
How it works:
Why it works:
INCREASING EFFORTS IN
MARKETING ATTRIBUTION
Marketers are moving beyond last-click or last-event attribution models and
employing advanced attribution platforms that analyze data from marketing campaigns
at a granular level to pinpoint the channels, cadences, assets, mediums, etc. that proved
most effective.
Accurate and holistic attribution data gives marketers actionable insight into what
drives conversions. This enables dynamic resource allocation to ensure the best ROI.
How it works:
Why it works:
* Jebbit campaign funnel
EMBRACING PREDICTIVE
INTELLIGENCE
Alison Murdock, VP of marketing at 6sense, a predictive intelligence tool,
defines predictive intelligence like this: “Unlike predictive lead scoring,
which uses heuristics and static attributes to rank score existing leads,
predictive intelligence taps into behavioral data from CRM and marketing
automation and the much larger B2B web to identify buyers who are
actually in market to buy specific products or solutions.”
Predictive intelligence delivers a higher quality lead, shortens the nurturing
process and buying cycle, and promotes a more personalized experience by
allowing marketers to deliver the right message to the right buyer at the right time.
How it works:
Why it works:
BENEFITS OF INCORPORATING
THESE TOP TRENDS
These marketing trends share similar goals:
increasing awareness and engagement, improving
the customer experience, developing more detailed
buyer persona to focus sales and marketing efforts,
and shortening the lead nurturing/buying cycle.
Many companies have successfully embraced these
trends to help them reach their marketing objectives.
Dell’s enterprise division targets CIOs and CTOs of large IT organizations to market and sell hardware
and software security solutions. Traditional content marketing tactics were becoming less effective,
and Dell needed a way to attract these high profile buyers with the goal of driving conversions
through white paper and content downloads.
Dell decided to take this rather mundane experience of simply asking potential leads to “download
a whitepaper” and make it more interactive. Dell used Jebbit’s “Content Quiz” campaign to instead
challenge it’s audience to take a quiz that unlocked the white paper by answering a few questions
about information security. This resonated much better with its audience, increasing the time they
spent on the site by 5.2 times and increasing the volume of leads by 3.4 times.
HOW TO KNOW WHICH TREND
IS BEST FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Not every trend is right for every business; some,
like clearly articulating and documenting your
content marketing strategy, applies to businesses
of all sizes and should be a priority.
Investing in mobile marketing is another scalable
trend that applies to every business. While B2B
marketers tend to think that mobile is the domain
of B2C, the increasingly mobile behavior of B2B
customers proves otherwise. Larger businesses
can implement a fully integrated mobile marketing
strategy while smaller ones can focus on optimizing
a mobile website, designing content specifically
for mobile, and adding mobile social plugins and
mobile apps. While a smaller company may not look
at app development specifically, it can consider its
presence within other mobile apps, specifically social
apps like LinkedIn.
B2B companies that market to IT Users and
CIOs especially can’t afford to overlook a mobile
strategy. The 2014 IDG Enterprise Customer
Engagement Survey revealed that 62% of IT
decision-makers would be less likely to do
business with a company following a poor mobile
experience, and 54% said a poor mobile experience
would negatively impact their opinion of the brand.
The keys to identifying which trends work
for your business include evaluating your
marketing resources and department bandwidth,
and identifying your target audience. Large
companies have access to elite enterprise-level
marketing solutions that easily integrate top
marketing trends such as predictive analysis
and microtargeting. Smaller companies may
find scalable SaaS platforms that enable a more
comprehensive content marketing strategy to
exploit emerging trends in that channel.
Knowing which marketing trends drive success
for your business also includes understanding
where your target audience lives. Businesses
targeting CIOs require a different approach than
those targeting CMOs or CEOs, for example.
CIOs download an average of seven assets
throughout the purchase process (eight for
enterprise companies versus six for SMBs),
and rely heavily on product reviews/expert
opinions, case studies, and social media in their
buying decisions. For CEOs, however, the number
one driver in the final stages of the purchasing de-
cision is professional network influencers, accord-
ing to a study by IDC.
HOW YOU CAN IMPLEMENT THESE
MARKETING TRENDS TODAY
A common theme among these marketing trends is
the importance of improving the overall customer
experience through digital marketing. Enhancing
microtargeting and personalization, mastering mobile
marketing, integrating platforms and technologies
across the entire purchasing journey, and fine-tuning your
content marketing strategy all emphasize giving priority
to the customer’s experience. And each is underpinned
by the need for better data quality that unifies sales and
marketing information within the CRM.
A good first step in harnessing these marketing
trends involves investing in technologies that
enhance the customer experience. Post-Click
Engagement platforms such as Jebbit optimize the
experience once a customer interacts with your
brand, leading to increased conversion rates and
overall improvement in campaign performance
and ROI.
Microtargeting and personalization platforms
improve the lead nurturing process and can lead
to an overall bump of 19% in sales. Implementing
a triggered, personalized email component may
lead to a 25% increase in open rates and a 52%
increase in click-throughs.
Predictive analytics was previously available to
only the largest corporations. Cloud-based B2B
SaaS solutions now exist that comb a company’s
existing CRM and marketing automation platform,
making it easy for any size organization to
implement. Companies that use predictive analytics
enjoy high double-digit increases in leads and sales.
CONCLUSION
Embracing these trends will help businesses improve lead generation,
increase conversion rates, shorten the sales cycle, and lead to better
return on investment. Overall, marketing execs should focus on scalable
solutions that improve data collection and analytics, especially with
an eye toward incorporating predictive intelligence in lead generation,
microtargeting, personalization, and marketing attribution.
Focusing on technologies that improve the overall customer experience
is another top B2B marketing trend; Post-Click Engagement platforms
and enhanced content marketing strategies that deliver timely, relevant,
and highly personalized content will be given priority. Influencer
marketing will also gain prominence as B2Bs look to build market share.
Finally, expect mobile marketing to command a larger portion of an
organization’s resources and attention as B2B users increasingly
rely on mobile devices to help them in their purchase decisions.
Though many of the best practices outlined here can be applied to static
landing page campaigns, there are certain advantages to creative and
interactive landing pages that merit special attention. All of the examples
used were powered by Jebbit to create an experience tailored to a specific
audience and marketing objective.
Reach out to us to learn how you can create these types of
campaigns for your brand.
LEARN MORE
www.jebbit.com | [email protected] | 617-514-0030