Prioritizing customer relationships within B2B marketing strategies was an effective tool before the pandemic. Now it’s an essential one. COVID-19 has the relationships between B2B brands and customers. Faced with uncertainty across the spectrum, companies sought stability and support from their business partners.
According to Forrester Research, those relationships have grown deeper and more enduring: the average number of buyer interactions rose from 17 in 2019 to 27 in 2021. 75 percent of Americans now report having changed brands during the pandemic – apparently these interactions are increasingly influencing customer behavior. B2B brands needed to feel that they could trust any potential partner to hold onto them before embarking on the relationship – and this will continue in the post-pandemic world.
With many companies moving into growth after the instability of 2020, B2B brands are opening up new opportunities to build meaningful relationships with their customers based on trust and human connection.
Customers want brands they know and trust
In 2021 and beyond, B2B customers need to feel they can trust your brand to provide support through thick and thin. In fact, 53 percent of respondents to the Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report 2020 say that “Whether you trust the company that owns the brand or the brand that makes the product” is the second most important factor when buying from a new organization. Trust comes second after price.
Recognizability: You can create a sense of trust and familiarity in your brand by sharing marketing strategies with the thought. By giving your brand a distinctive look and sound, you are helping to cement your company in the minds of potential customers. For example, you can take advantage of Sonic Branding by using a few notes or a melody to differentiate your brand on different video and audio channels (think the sound your computer makes when you turn it on, or the classic Apple notification tone). This helps to build an unconscious brand association and thus trust.
Authenticity: In this day and age, building customers’ trust in your brand is also important by being clear about your values and making sure your actions are aligned. Potential buyers are put off by brands that claim to stand for something but don’t support it – integrity is essential to fuel relationships. These values summarize how you treat your employees, how you stand up for diversity and inclusion and how you support social and ecological issues.
Creativity: B2B companies can take a page out of the B2C book when it comes to being open about their corporate values. Take Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, for example. The company has built its brand loyalty through its recognizable amusing and bizarre ice cream names, quality, unique ingredients and its value-based philosophy, which is publicly committed to social issues.
Reliability: Even in the B2B area, there can be no talk of trust without recognizing the importance of data protection and security. Every business customer who works with a solution partner must have the certainty that their data is being handled securely. You can demonstrate this by making your data collection and privacy policies transparent, as well as the cybersecurity infrastructure you use to protect this data.
The importance of the human connection
After more than a year of isolation, the human connection is more important than ever, and so is marketing relationships. With that in mind, B2B and B2C marketing methods merged in surprising ways during the pandemic. B2B brands like Zoom became known to consumers, and many other B2B companies had to expect the end customer to be human – not a faceless company.
This means that B2B brands now need to increase their focus on emotional engagement and functional added value. Currently, 50 percent of B2B buyers are more likely to buy when they connect emotionally with a brand.
You can start using storytelling to build that connection with your customers. Storytelling is a great way to demonstrate the impact your business has on the lives of others. Take, for example, the Customer Success Stories from Salesforce or the AdWords Stories from Google, which, for example, highlight local companies with their advertising platform. Telling these types of stories creates a human connection and trust as customers can see the real impact of your product or service. All of this helps to build a solid relationship with your customer.
It is also wise to consider the smaller, but equally essential, details of your messages, especially during turbulent times. You want to make sure that all brand communication is delivered at the right time and in the right tone. If your customers are likely to be affected by the repercussions of some current event or are engaged in a specific social cause, make sure to include this in your messages and provide the appropriate tools to assist.
Listen to your customers – on a whole new level
No relationship can develop without feeling heard. The uncertainty still abounds as the world enters a new era and the unknown always lurks around the corner. Brands simply cannot afford to move forward without advising their customers on their current and future needs.
There are several ways you can ensure that your customers feel heard while meeting them where they are. For example, it’s a good idea to regularly socialize, collect feedback on your product or service through surveys, and analyze user data to gain insights. You can also take the time to have individual conversations with your most valuable customers about what they see on the horizon. It is the brands that tailor their products to the needs of the customers who manage to build long-term relationships with their customers.
With social media usage skyrocketing by 2020 and 2021, more B2B customers than ever are willing to use these platforms to communicate with brands. It has been shown that customers are willing to spend more (up to 20 percent) on products when the brand responds on social media, and 64 percent of people want brands to connect with them – so stop Your community on social media and you interact with it is important to nurture these relationships.
This also requires defining customer segments and interacting with these customer groups based on their buying behavior. Listening well means responding sensibly – so make sure that conversations with your customers are based on their known needs and behaviors.
Essentially, for many B2B companies, post-pandemic marketing means getting the core ethos of your strategy back to basics – maintaining quality and long-term relationships. Getting there may require innovative thinking and new methodology, but if you focus on building connections, loyalty, and trust with your customers, you can stay on the right track.