{"id":8537,"date":"2024-08-26T14:58:05","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T14:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tup.kxe.temporary.site\/5-key-trends-were-seeing-in-b2b-marketing\/"},"modified":"2024-08-26T14:58:05","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T14:58:05","slug":"5-key-trends-were-seeing-in-b2b-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/okdesign.ca\/en\/5-key-trends-were-seeing-in-b2b-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"5 key trends we\u2019re seeing in B2B marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Like just about everything in marketing, B2B marketing<\/a> is changing \u2014 and fast.\u00a0 Some of the trends I\u2019m seeing have been developing for a while, but now they\u2019re really taking off.\u00a0 What\u2019s going on?\u00a0 Here are five of the most important developments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

1. Welcome the new generation of buyers<\/h2>\n

Gen X and Y are entering the buying group, in droves.\u00a0 And they roll their eyes at the old \u201cOK Boomer\u201d generation\u2019s buying behavior.\u00a0 Theirs is distinctly digital.\u00a0 Digital first: apps, mobile, social media<\/a>, video, podcasts, ecommerce<\/a> \u2014 the works.\u00a0 And they don\u2019t want to take a meeting with a salesperson if they can help it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, we marketers need to get on board.\u00a0 Produce the content they love.\u00a0 Find them wherever they are \u2014 like under a remote-work beach umbrella.\u00a0 And smooth our selling process \u2014 their buying process \u2014 to its digital best.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Interestingly, this change in buying behavior has major implications for the role of the marketing function in the firm.\u00a0 Who knows digital best?\u00a0 Marketing.\u00a0 Who has the data on these buyers?\u00a0 Marketing.\u00a0 Who is becoming less influential in the scenario?\u00a0 Sales.\u00a0 Hmmm. Could be that marketing will enjoy an increase in power and influence in B2B?\u00a0 Marketing flies the plane and sales serves the coffee, perhaps?<\/p>\n

2. Ecommerce across the buying process<\/h2>\n

As digital natives expect to buy with much less assistance from sales reps, marketers are figuring out how to automate parts of even the most complex sales processes to serve these buyers \u2014 while at the same time reducing selling expenses and taking advantage of new tools like AI.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Traditionally, only simple products were suited to \u201cmail order\u201d (now ecommerce); products like copier paper and replacement parts.\u00a0 But B2B companies have been experimenting for decades with lower cost methods to reduce selling expense.\u00a0 I recall IBM in the 1990s with the \u201chybrid\u201d program for selling huge mainframes by breaking the sales process into its component parts, and assigning various parts to cheaper channels, like inside sales, direct mail catalogs, and channel partners.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

These days, marketers are emboldened just as buyers are demanding to place orders through their mobile phones.\u00a0 They\u2019re using chatbots for top-of-funnel conversations, digital tools for custom price quotes, marketplaces for placing orders\u2014the list goes on and on. \u00a0 See my earlier article<\/a> for useful stats and resources on this subject.\u00a0<\/p>\n

3. Marketers get involved in account penetration and expansion\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Traditionally, B2B marketers were expected to fill the top of the sales funnel with a steady stream of qualified leads, and sales functions like account management were charged with customer retention and expansion.\u00a0 But marketers these days are adding value to the retention side of the house, to the point where the annual Sagefrog B2B Marketing Mix report<\/a> (registration required) listed \u201ccustomer retention\u201d as the #2 priority for marketing departments in 2023, and #3 in 2024\u2014whereas the topic had not even made the top five in 2022.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a good thing.\u00a0 Marketers have plenty of tools and skills to help account managers achieve their goals.\u00a0 For example, data analytics around past purchase patterns can identify \u201cnext-best-product\u201d suggestions for optimized upsell and cross sell.\u00a0 Statistical models can predict customer challenges that are likely to surface, giving sales teams \u201creasons to call\u201d into their accounts and offer help.\u00a0 Marketing is really good at creating highly personalized outbound communications to customers, under the account manager\u2019s name.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dig deeper: The B2B case for retention marketing \u2014 7 key tactics<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Video just gets bigger and bigger<\/h2>\n

Video\u2019s growth as a highly effective tool in the B2B marcom kit continues, for a number of reasons:<\/p>\n