While technology is ubiquitous in the world these days, it is not yet fully selling itself. Business-to-business marketing professionals need to keep abreast of the latest trends in the industry. However, trends change so quickly that even the most up-to-date experts sometimes don’t know when new marketing strategies or approaches will emerge.
Throughout 2020, it remains crucial to be clear about which trends are likely to be critical to the success of B2B marketers. To help out these 16 professionals Forbes Communications Council Take a look at what B2B marketing trends to watch out for in 2020.
Photos courtesy of each member
1. Master the soft sell
Now is the time for compassion and understanding. As the world is ravaged by a global pandemic, we as marketers and communicators must lead with empathy. Do not push products or solutions. Rather, create teaching materials or thought guidance pieces. The companies that master soft selling with compassion will be the 2020 winners. – Liza Horowitz, Beacon platform
2. Click Segmentation
We’re seeing tremendous growth in the number of hypertargeting customers using click segmentation in their email marketing. By automatically segmenting email lists based on what users click on, brands see higher open and click rates to lower unsubscribe rates. Click segmentation will help brands take their digital communications strategy to the next level in 2020 and beyond. – – John Orlando, Constant contact
3. Video on humanizing the business
I believe that humanizing business is an important trend now and in the future, which is why video is an effective way of delivering messages. People don’t read. You are bombarded with too much content. Videos can be personalized and that’s what customers expect from brands. Now I’m on my way to create a “thank you” video for my team. – – Stacy Sherman, Expert in customer experience
4. Live streaming for digital communication
The demand for live streaming will increase. More and more people can view content from the comfort of their home or office. As marketers, we should consider including live streaming in our internal and external campaigns and events. We’ll also face the challenge of creating fun and interactive content that breaks the clutter and has an impact on business bottom line. – – Parna Sarkar-Basu, Branding and Buzz Marketing, LLC.
5. Better tools for video content
According to a HubSpot report92% of marketers say video is an important part of their marketing strategy. Therefore, the volume of video content produced is increased in order to involve customers and employees as best as possible. With this influx, marketers need an efficient, cost-effective technical solution like a digital asset management platform to store, manage, and distribute content and future proof their strategy. – – Helen Aboagye, image
6. Signals of intention
We duplicate intent signals and use search analytics to manage our prospecting and digital advertising spending. We fish where the fish bite. No longer do you have to stand on the dock and wait for the fish to swim by (our website). Data-driven ads and reach increase connections, meeting settings and hopefully downstream conversion. – – Andrew Kokes, HGS
7. A focus on first party data
Many of the leading business-to-business technology companies are placing increasing emphasis on maintaining direct marketing relationships with prospects rather than buying leads from third parties due to changed regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc.). As a result, B2B technology companies are investing more in developing their own tech stacks that are integrated into DMPs and CDPs across channels. – – Brian Lee, Unleash your identity
8. Growing importance of predictive analytics
The coronavirus pandemic resulted in a sudden, serious disruption to the economy. Marketers strive to adapt their plans in such a dynamic environment. Predictive analytics can help marketers model scenarios based on business principles and adjust their spending, channels, and timing to create a data-driven strategy that reduces risk and takes the guesswork out of this process. – – Nanette Kirsch, Sharp decision-making systems
9. Increased focus on data protection
There is probably no bigger shift in marketing (both B2B and B2C) than the ever-evolving privacy landscape. B2B marketers are used to leveraging a lot of customer and prospect data in their campaigns, but new regulations are forcing companies to look closely at the data they collect and store. Marketers need to pay close attention to how this affects their skills. – – Tom Wozniak, OPTIZMO Technologies, LLC
10. Podcasts are the new normal
Pick any B2B tech marketing trend (e.g. augmented reality, account-based marketing or AI-driven automation), talk to experts about it, record and broadcast podcasts. This is the best way to reach out to busy tech marketers who are prone to multitasking while listening to podcasts. Transcribe the podcast to create content that will help the same tech marketers find more information about the trending. – – Prashant Saxena, Isentia
11. Better tools for targeting differentiation
One major trend that I expect is reliable online / social media monitoring tools that measure legitimate brand sentiment. This would also help differentiate between real-world audiences and the behavior of synthetic audiences (bots) that can mislead you. – – Roohi Saeed, Procore
12. Highly personalized communication
Your prospects and clients have unique personalities, identities, and preferences. Treat them like that. Make sure you go beyond simple variables in your communication. One of the reasons our company continues to invest heavily in virtual employee benefits support is the ability to hyper-personalize communications on a large scale. Design your communication for an audience of one. – – Rick ramos, HealthJoy
13. Comprehensive strategies for virtual events
Given the current global situation, look out for more comprehensive virtual event strategies that use interactive platforms like Zoom and Hangouts (versus traditional webinar platforms). Events should have multiple parties that interact, engage the audience and adopt a more debate or panel discussion format to involve people and bring up multiple points of view and issues. – – Jennifer Kyriakakis, MATRIXX software
14. Rise in B2B influencers
Influencer marketing has been extremely overtly disrupting B2C – remember to switch to shopping, clothing lines with influencer brands, etc. However, B2B failed to realize that influencers are finding their way into their space and will be just as disruptive. These influencers may not have the reach, but they are incredibly influential as thought leaders and will drive an increasing number of B2B buying decisions. – – Patrick Ward, Rootstrap
15. RCS News
Rich Communication Services (RCS) messages open up a new form of communication for companies. It allows marketers to add photos, videos, locations, map directions, and more to their messages. This is a huge improvement on the standard SMS functionality and will help B2B marketers showcase their products and services in new ways. – – Liam Quinn, Reach Interactive
16. Hyperrelevance
Hyperrelevance is all that matters now. Regardless of what technology you use (and there are some great technologies out there with intent signals, web personalization, broadcast platforms, marketing automation, etc.), marketers are now in a world where they need to keep their ears to the ground and know for sure what your audience thinks and cares about and formulates the message for that moment. – – Daniel Frohnen, Sentoso