Digital marketing is a new trend which is being adopted by almost every business to reach a broader customer base. For B2C companies this has been a game changer. But studies have shown surprising results as to how B2B companies are more eager to use marketing strategy than B2C companies. B2B digitalization trends have increased exponentially to create a new model of how B2B business usually works.
To reach their target audience online. They tend to use these new technologies to connect with other businesses and make them as a potential customer. But this depends a lot on what kind of target customers that business has.
And with the digital world booming with new technologies. B2B companies have understood the importance of digital marketing and learnt new ways in which they can use these trends. These trends will help them gain more customers.
The article will give you a complete guide to make you understand everything about the new B2B digitalization trends that are on top in 2023 and gives you an insight on how to use these to grow your business.
8 New B2B Digitalization Trends
1. Content Marketing
Content marketing is one of the trends which will never become obsolete. Because content is king. You have these businesses who want to know about what you sell. And the most effective way to communicate the information to the buyer will be having good content. This goes on from your tagline, website content, search engines etc.
You need to pull traffic towards your website out of all the other options in the market. For this you need to use proper keywords which will make your website results on top in the google rankings.
Creating content in this era has evolved over the years. So, to create content there are many ways like email newsletters, blogging, infographics, long form content etc.
Content creation is important in B2b as unlike in B2C where there are many different audiences catered with different mindset in the buying process. In B2B business, the audience are much focused and require specific details to satisfy their needs.
There are some companies that have gated content which require the audiences to fill a form before accessing the content. This proves to be effective in lead generation.
2. Video Marketing
Video marketing is said to be one of the trends which helps in a positive return on investment (ROI). With the evolution of new media tools, people prefer to see visuals rather than text. So, this is a great way to engage with your audience and provide content.
This is not only used for customer guides. Video content starts from driving people in, generating leads, and converting visitors into customers.
One of the most important tools used in video marketing is customer testimonials. This is where you are influencing the purchasing decisions of your new customers with videos of customers who have used the product or service.
Video marketing helps in creating account based marketing where if your target prospects belong to a specific section. You can create personalized video content using a video editor tool to make them your customers and engage them.
3. Artificial Intelligence
You can use the help of AI technology in B2B marketing. In this technology era, innovation peaks at its very best. AI helps you in combining your customer data and provides you in depth analysis of each customer base. So, you can understand what your customer wants and improve your customer experience.
There are tools like Baremetrics that will help you in customer segmentation. This will sub divide your customers based on certain characteristics like geography, buying behavior etc. In this way you can personalize your customer journey and keep track of your customer activities.
AI helps in lead generation. This is not the usual way of searching for target prospects who may or may not buy. With help of lead management tools, you can see which leads can be converted into customers based on buying patterns, search engines, social media activities etc.
Nowadays we can see many businesses using chatbots in their websites to make the audiences engaged and help in fulfilling their needs.
4. Integrate Offline And Online Marketing Strategy
B2B customers are widespread and it is important to integrate offline and online marketing strategies if you want to reach more customers. It is also important because it is difficult to analyze the engagement of online strategy in offline sale.
One of the easiest way to direct offline activity online is by using QR code, landing page etc. By conducting events and competitions offline, you can direct them to your social media platforms.
You need to have a consistent design to make sure that both of your campaigns are running successfully.
5. Social Media Marketing
Social media platforms are the best way to market your business to the audiences. In case of B2B companies, it can help you to drive engagement and improve your sales. Using social media are some of the new digital marketing trends which emerged after understanding the power of accumulating audience from it and sharing valuable information.
You can use many social media applications like Twitter, Facebook and even LinkedIn for your brand building. Increasing brand awareness is the first goal of using these marketing strategy.
In this comes influencer marketing. In this era, the need of people who has the ability to network people can’t be overstated. You need to find the right person to do your marketing campaign. This will last longer in the eyes of a B2B customer comparing to B2C.
Marketing teams should do their own research in terms of how to run the campaign. Because brand reputation is everything in B2B business. For this some firms hire digital marketing agencies to help with their strategies. But you need to have proper marketing budget to leverage digital marketing agencies.
6. Google Analytics And Attribution
In this digital transformation, it is important to capture web analytics. Google analytics plays a vital role in providing data regarding the traffic in your website and deeper understanding in sales process.
It helps in finding out which of your website convert best lead and which one is the worst. In that way, you can eliminate or making necessary changes like button clicks etc. And it also makes us understand the buyer’s journey.
You need to set up Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to capture analytics since the Google Universal analytics is falling away. This will help you to clearly compare your metrics with the competitors website and increase traffic in your website. This gives you a competitive edge among them.
This will help you build historical data and retrieve your data in UA.
7. Digital First Experiences
Digital transformation has completely changed the dynamics of how many marketers adopting to changing landscape. Times have changed when people will reach out to you and do business. Now they talk with their friends, acquire information and do their own research. The sales reps coming to people’s house and influencing the buyer decision is not anymore.
Through digital channels, you have to educate the audience to solve their problem and build content according to that.
In digital first content, search will be one of the key aspect since that is what will give people an idea of what this brand is and influence in their decision making. SEO integration and credibility of the content is the next thing which is important to look after.
8. Account Based Marketing
One of the main reason for the success of B2B digital marketing is the fact that it is more personalized compared to other traditional marketing strategies. You need to target the customers and cater their needs individually to generate more leads.
You need to prepare custom content that helps in increasing engagement and build relationships. It is proven to generate more traffic to the website and higher ROI. Account based marketing will customize their marketing plan according to the individuals and try to retain customers.
Conclusion
These are some of the important B2B digital marketing trends that are present in this continuously evolving space. It is important to make your own marketing strategy and stay ahead in the competition. Many businesses make use of this new technology to help in promoting their business.
With this Web 3 and Metaverse evolving rapidly, there are many applications for augmented and virtual reality to customize their buying experience. This is what the future of B2B businesses look like. Artificial Intelligence is making the work of the B2B companies much easier, as it is now easy to collect and interpret data.
Digital marketing helps you in increasing brand awareness and site traffic which gives you better leads. Always make sure that you map your marketing strategy and work based on generating demand. B2B customers require well curated content at a space where they feel welcomed. And that’s where they will do their business. Since nowadays it is hard to choose from many available options. The personalized buying experience will motivate them to buy from you and also recommend to their fellow peers.