7 B2B Marketing Trends to watch out for in 2020

Who would have thought that B2B marketing would change so radically! The changes have been so drastic that it has influenced even the actions of B2B buyers and this can be attributed to the technological advancement over the last few years. Adding to that, now most of the decision-makers of a company or the buyers in the B2B market are generally the X-gens thus influencing so many changes is what most market experts opine about.

It is now very important to understand how the users use the online market and the manner in which the interaction takes place in different platforms to be able to make accurate target strategies for B2B buyers. In the last decade, the process of B2B buying has developed, buyers now make a thorough search online before involving with the website of a specific brand almost the same as B2C purchase.

The most successful B2B marketers in 2020 will look carefully at the trends in the industry and really listen to and act on what they are saying. Knowing the trends that are likely to impact B2B businesses in 2020 can help marketers better understand where the business currently is, where it wants to be, and how it is going to get there.

The following are the B2B marketing trends that are likely to shape the B2B buyer’s journey in 2020 and beyond.

Content Marketing

Content marketing has been used by almost every B2B marketer to reach out to their customers since digital marketing took over and is predicted to be one of the major tools even beyond 2020. Although, even with the B2B marketers’ awareness of content marketing and its importance in their promotions, in 2020 the key will be keeping the strategy updated for its success.

The content has to be in various diverse formats based on the target audience’s preferences. Video content is predicted to remain growing, but written content should also not be neglected as well. The longer form of content is set to make a comeback as users are getting more interested in in-depth topic knowledge that is useful and so it is going to be the most effective for B2B marketers in 2020. Longer form content like white papers can be a predominantly effective one in this case.

Personalized Communications

Most business buyers lookout for communications from businesses that are more personalized and fit with their requirements but when these buyers feel the lack of it then it is most likely that they will go to another provider. The process of customizing communications based on a specific user’s attributes and choices is what personalized communication is all about. It can be used to drive sales and can be exceedingly effective, along with gaining more knowledge about the target audience and the markets as a whole.

So, in 2020 according to market experts, B2B marketing strategies should be about Personalised Communication as it is going to help your company to be more obvious than others. It will be viewed as a valuable and prized asset by the users as it will resonate with their requirements.

Programmatic Advertising

Automated bidding using analytic data to buy ad spots instead of the old conventional methods is what the Programmatic advertising process is about. This process streamlines the purchase with little or no possibility of error, it even lessens the advertising costs thus leading to its growth in usage by most marketers.

Digital marketers should remain ahead of programmatic advertising which being is deemed the future in the domain of digital advertising and will prove to be very beneficial by doing so even beyond 2020. This would mean that B2B marketers will need to know the process and also have the inclination to alter their present purchasing ads methods.

Account-Based Marketing and Email Marketing

Account-based marketing has totally changed the concept of conventional or traditional marketing funnel. It includes engaging sales and marketing resources on a particular group of target accounts. Account-Based marketing promotion is a personalized promotion and is done in such a way that every marketing message created and written are focussed on the particular requirements and purposes of that particular business. Therefore, account-based marketing usually has a possibility of escalating the success rate and generating higher quality lead besides improving the reputation and customer relationships through this marketing campaign or promotion.

Email marketing has been in use for a long time so as to stay in touch with the customers and keep up relationships especially in B2B marketing. Actually, most marketers still use email and are one of their favored methods of communicating with a business. With the advancement in technology, the method of email marketing has also changed drastically especially in the functionality and has become more efficient. Email marketing is set to remain to dictate B2B marketing strategies in 2020 as well, however, it should be kept in mind that with the growth in usage of smartphones, ensuring that the emails generated are mobile-friendly is very essential.

Updated SEO

Focussing on the users and noting the user experience when they visit your site is one of the best ways to stay on top and ensuring that your website is well-optimized based on your user’s experience. Adapting B2B SEO strategy that focuses on the visitors and not on the search engines is programming your business for success as Google takes cues from its users to regulate ranking the sites by taking the indications based on the user experience.

Voice search is a key trend that is most probably going to considerably influence SEO in 2020 and as such you should be aware of it. Voice search-friendly keywords will be essential in determining the success of the SEO. Voice search is set to dominate over other search methods, therefore, SEO strategy should be mainly based more on conversational keywords just as most market experts recommend

Social Media Strategy

Social media is set to continue growing and has become a very important part of digital marketing. Many B2B companies are missing out on the prospect of getting new prospective leads as they neglect or ignore the significance of Social Media marketing today, although it may be due to the fact that they function in very multifaceted companies with sales cycles that take a long time. Yet, this should not deter using social media as a part of your marketing strategy.

In social media platforms you can connect with your customers directly that also on a more personal level, this enables B2B marketers to reach out to a larger audience at a very low expense. It can thus help in effectively providing quantifiable outcomes in promoting sales, a higher number of leads, and enhance branding. Although, you should be wary of the ever-changing social media environment and adapt accordingly so as to get desired outcomes.

Data Visualisation and Reporting

Along with technological advancement, the capability of data and analytics is advancing as well. The availability of data for B2B marketers is enormous and likewise, reporting tools like Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics also continue to grow as along the lines of these advancements bringing in new features and tools to fulfill the requirement of data by the marketers.

Data visualization is being made possible by making digital data more accessible because of the innovative steps taken by the data analytics experts. This data visualization helps in extracting user data from the various data sets made available by data accessibility.

For every digital marketing campaign to be successful data is very important as the data will help in defining the targeted audience that directly manages in attracting more qualified leads. Data will also help in personalizing marketing promotions thus helping in creating bonds with the targeted businesses.

Therefore, in order to stay ahead of the game, you should be able to keep up with the changes that are going around and keep yourself updated with all the technological advancements and follow the trends that are going on in the market.