Do you own a B2B business? If so, you may be wondering when, or if, B2B marketing will return to normal. Marketing Profs tackled the question, saying, “It’s a safer bet to assume the approaches that lead gen teams adopted during the pandemic will continue to influence pipeline development, marketing attribution, and campaign measurement.”
But Marketing Profs adds that’s it’s “ok” things won’t return to “normal” since, like we see in the B2C market, “fundamental changes in customer expectations and behavior require new approaches.”
Here are three trends in B2B marketing Marketing Profs says to watch for this year:
1—Scaling back tech stacks: While in recent years there’s been an explosion of marketing technology (the Chief Marketing Technologist blog says there are over 8,000 martech solutions), Marketing Profs predicts that businesses will “look for opportunities to consolidate and simplify their tech stacks.”
2—Evolution of ABM: Account-based marketing (ABM) was adopted by B2B marketers last decade to personalize their campaigns, reports Marketing Profs. But at the time, they say, “ABM was only “feasible for smaller, well-defined audiences.” Today, Marketing Profs expects ABM to evolve, making it “more imperative for B2B marketers to integrate data inside the CRM, creating a single source of truth that is shared” throughout the business.”
3—Going beyond engagement: When the COVID-19 pandemic halted in-person events, Marketing Profs says B2B marketers turned to digital outreach. The next step is “finding out how clicks, downloads, etc., influence closed/won business at the bottom of the funnel. So, Marketing Profs expects “B2B marketers to seek greater clarity with tools that shed light on campaign influence beyond engagement,” which will better position them “to identify which programs, vendors, and channels are driving revenue.”
If you’re a B2B marketer, you should read the entire post. Consider becoming a member—they deliver valuable, applicable information daily.
If you want to learn more about how to market your small business (B2B and B2C), my friend Ivana Taylor of DIYMarketers just launched a Masterclass for Getting Customers. She’s brought together over a dozen experts and asked each of us to contribute our best “customer-getting strategy.”
The event is free for a very limited time, so sign up now.
My session is on “The Surprising Power of Business Directories.”
