The correct way to stay ahead of the competition.
In today’s market, as customers become more and more informed, it is harder to reach out and successfully convert a large percentage of customer leads. Thus, marketers need to accept and embrace these monumental shifts in marketing technology.
The complexity of B2B continues, particularly since B2B marketing is so heavily dependent on advances in technology. Earlier, marketers would simply have to reach out to their leads, and most of them would close. However, that is not the case now.
In today’s market, as customers become more and more informed, it is harder to reach out and successfully convert a large percentage of those leads. Thus, marketers need to accept and embrace these monumental shifts in marketing technology. Here are a few reasons why B2B marketers need to follow the latest MarTech trends:
#1: Enhancing Customer Experience
Probably the most impactful B2B marketing trend for the year is to enhance the customer’s all-around experience. The marketer must exercise a laser sharp focus on improving the customer’s experience. This is will help in driving growth and building customer loyalty. Loyal customers become promoters for the company, which makes for a great competitive advantage in the long run.
#2: Make Full Use of Executive Branding
Grant Wickes, an executive branding specialist, says, “Senior executives must create and develop their personal brand. Buyers want to know the ‘why’ and trust the leaders behind the companies they do business with. Some companies have adapted to this evolution, but many have not. And executives are most guilty of not embracing this new paradigm. Some feel there is no need, but 2017 will mark a watershed year for executive branding.”
When you use influencer marketing, it would be good to assure that your influencers relate to and are satisfied with your product/service. Only then will you be able to truly execute this form of branding.
#3. Utilize Bots
Gone are the days when you’d have to make use of a full-time customer executive or a software dedicated to auto-response 24 hours a day. Times have changed, and so has the technology that marketers employ. Customers expect on-demand help all day, every day, and as a marketer, it is your job to deliver. Thanks to AI and chatbots, this has been made a lot easier. Chatbots is short for chatting robots. They reply to customer queries instantly, and with the help of AI, they can be programmed to reply in the way the company wishes.
#4. Hire a Marketing Technologist
According to HBR, a marketing technologist is responsible for “aligning marketing technology with business goals, serving as a liaison to IT, and evaluating and choosing technology providers.”
It is always a good idea to hire someone whose job would be to analyze, study, and subsequently implement the latest advancements in technology and correlate the same to the various functions of marketing. As marketers increasingly rely on technology to enable success, the marketing technologist — a position which may not exist in your organization today—may be the most important next hire you make.
Many organizations still haven’t figured out a way to incorporate the essential features of the digital transformation into their daily activities. As a marketer, being first in line and setting trends is what will prove your worth and give your organization the competitive advantage that it needs. Hence, it only gets more and more important to be aware of the latest MarTech trends.
