A Guest post from Tania Oliver from White Space Creative.

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Contact Tania on her details below and let her know you came from B2B!

The marketing tools of the past applied to nascent consumerism are the root cause of the irrationality apparent in executive decision-making when it comes to managing their brand.

Marketing is changing at warp speed, and unless companies respond now (if not too late already), it will not survive the onslaught of sophisticated customers who want it all: responsive service, low cost, value, mixed interaction and specialist insight. This is what I call “virtual specialist marketing”.

In recent research undertaken by McKinsey’s, it is reported that B2B now has to rely on B2C tactics such as the use of granular customer data and strategies to produce increased sales conversion rates. The surge of use of predictive analytics demands a new strategic approach, reducing the influence of old fashioned gut instinct. Re-evaluation and retooling directed by strategy are required to support creative processes in product development and marketing endeavours.

While consumers have not changed their criteria for buying, the “customer experience” phenomena has undergone a significant transformation in the past five years.  Because methods of communications and comparison available to consumers permeate our actions and thoughts, businesses have often been caught on their back foot.

Most companies have sat back merely to survive the economic downturn experienced in SA but also globally while they should have invested time and energy to rethink, take note and reposition themselves for long term success by meeting their consumers’ new requirements.

So, what are the sure-fire trends in B2B marketing, and what do you need to at least consider moving forward? There are two that can no longer be ignored.

Content marketing.

The majority of new marketing investments should be spent on sophisticated content creation  – in all forms. B2B marketing requires a  spend of up to 50% of their budgets on content generation and 30% on paid content distribution. Highly profiled and targeted marketing is essential to support lead conversation, impacting directly on sales. Good content is often reused 2-6 times by its recipient and 80% of content marketing leads come from LinkedIn. It is clear that this platform reigns supreme as a distribution channel, publishing and referral network. The focus has also changed from lead generation to lead conversations.

Email marketing, as a tool remains rock solid for B2B marketing, and to increase its value, personalisation is recommended. Mass email blasts are no longer the game as personalised emails increase transactions up to six-fold.

Integrated Customer Experience.

Amazon, Netflix and Google have led the way in customer experience (CX). It has been reported that up to 80% of customers surveyed indicated that speed, convenience, knowledge, help and friendliness are most important to positive customer experience.

This is not a new concept to most executives but so few follow through in their marketing. Did you know that 46% of all B2B buyers are Millennials? Thus, the CX expectations are innately ingrained into their lifestyles and purchasing habits based on their upbringing in digital first environments. Their needs for faster problem-solving protocols and authentic, organic interactions requires heightened CX to ensure trust, loyalty and satisfaction. B2C have dealt with this reality for decades, but B2B brands will now confront the same CX challenges moving forward.

The use of technology to guide simple consumer questions is readily available via marketing automation such as AI, local Google search and chatbots and is preferred by customers in most instances, allowing for improved high-value face-to-face interaction.

Whitespace directs its IP towards answering these pertinent issues and offering content management services via its Community Management Programs. We have only experienced great results, as it almost seems that any effort in this discipline is met with relief and loyalty.

Wishing you a good content(ed) week.

Tania

tho@whitespacecreative.co.za

https://www.whitespacecreative.co.za/our-work