Photo by Robynne Hu on Unsplash
The state of B2B marketing has been progressing increasingly as new strategies and technologies are being developed. Looking back into the past 2 years, the B2B marketing landscape has been about adapting to change and putting the focus on recovery. Now, most businesses are in a remote, if not hybrid workplace, and this has caused them to formulate quick-moving campaigns for uncertainty. In this article, we’ll discuss prominent predictions we may expect to see in the years to come.
Automation to ease workflow
In response to the pandemic, digital marketers are implementing multichannel marketing strategies and developing personalized content at scale. Both B2B and B2C brands are utilizing these tools. According to a report by
Valuates, the global marketing automation market is anticipated to increase from $2.75 billion in 2017 to over $4.71 billion in 2028. With automation, processes can be simplified across multichannel strategies such as social media messaging, lead generation and nurturing, customer experience management, and email marketing. You may have seen or used an automated marketing platform, some notable platforms are HubSpot, SAP, Salesforce, and Marketo. Looking ahead, automated marketing solutions will continue to develop due to the demand from marketers. An aspect of marketing automation that may surge in time to come would be chatbots. This is due to easier integration as technology advances and their ability to capture customer data.
Leveraging on TikTok
With over
1 billion monthly active users, it is no wonder that TikTok is the most popular social media app in the world. You might associate TikTok with B2C marketing as many B2C businesses dominate and invest heavily in the evolving digital landscape for more than a decade mainly due to e-commerce. However, the future may pave the way to focus more on personalized experiences which will resemble B2C marketing. Consumerization of B2B marketing campaigns and sales initiatives is bound to happen as tech-savvy users demand B2B products to be more intuitive and powerful. While TikTok is relatively new, it’s proven to be one of the most successful social media platforms in the world. Unfortunately, many businesses are quick to eliminate it as a viable option because they believe the viewers on TikTok are much younger than their target demographic. But data shows that people of all ages are active users of the app. A
report indicates that in Q1 2021, 36% of the app’s users were between 35 and 54, an increase from 26% in 2020. Other than being a highly engaging social media platform, users on TikTok like connecting with brands.
73% of its users reported that they feel a deeper connection to companies they interact with on the platform. With such insightful data giving us these indications, it might be time to consider including TikTok in your campaigns. Though you might be thinking, “How much should I budget for TikTok content creation?” This brings us to another prediction.
User-Generated Content
Yes, TikTok may not align with your branding and admittedly, we don’t recommend it for every B2B company. TikTok solely focuses on enabling users’ creativity to create content and entertainment. If your B2B brand is looking to be seen by more people, increase brand engagement, or be relatable, you should consider creating User-Generated Content (UGC) that is engaging and informative. Not only does it speak to your target audience, but it also instills trust, and can be compelling. On top of that, it doesn’t require much to create UGC. The potential of UGC can be maximized by providing social proof instead of written reviews and client testimonials. It makes your marketing interactive and the process of accessing your brand’s information becomes a sales-free experience. Your prospects will not be skeptical of any hard sell!
Visual storytelling
For many B2B businesses, video marketing is the go-to marketing tactic and
it has become a popular one. And it will continue to be popular simply because it has better retention power than text-based content. Also, stories that are visual leaves a greater impact on decision-making. Those who have attended digital events in the past year would know that videos can take off pressure or compliment a virtual event very well (we’ve done this for our virtual events too!). Based on our experience, education-based video marketing like webinars is a good way to make an impact and establish credibility with your industry’s community or your clients. This helps educate prospects on how your products and solutions can help them achieve their organization’s goals.
Customer-centric is crucial
The mentioned future B2B brand storytelling forecast has been developed and adopted for a common reason which is to connect with customers and to constantly improve the customer experience. At Convergence Concepts, we believe this is a vital aspect of B2B brand storytelling, and it is our key focus for most of our projects. Whether it’ll be the focus in the future or not remains to be seen, however, the ability to understand customers and personalize content based on their needs and pains will always be essential in driving conversions and improving sales, whichever your objective may be.
A B2B buyer evaluates a seller’s content during the purchase process based on what they already know, their role in the decision process, and their collective experience. The expectations are that providers of solutions understand the most relevant content topics for us in the present and deliver the best-fit content at the right time. Immediacy, relevance, and instant gratification are expectations that have become a necessity in B2B brand marketing. The goal of consumer-centric strategies should not be to control the buyer’s journey, but rather to meet them where they are, anticipate their needs, and help them get to the next step.
As difficult as it is to precisely predict the future of B2B brand storytelling, the best approach is to be prepared with the latest insights while staying agile where appropriate. We suggest you try and develop intent-driven, empathy-based marketing strategies as they will be the key to reaching your customers authentically. A marketer’s ability to meaningfully connect with buyers and decision-makers with the right message, at the right time, and through relevant channels can be the differentiator in this competitive world of B2B marketing.
If you’re looking for a company that will help your brand to be visible, look no further than Convergence Concepts. We have a team of professionals that can achieve your business dreams when it comes to strategy, creative, digital media, and experience design. Feel free to reach out to us at
marketing@convergenceconcepts.com.sg with your inquiries.
