Let’s talk about some interesting future marketing trends. The future of marketing looks promising and optimistic. The year 2020 has been one of the more different and difficult years for humankind. It not only taught many of us the value of life but also brought in a type of revolution that many of us were not planning to be brought in so quickly: the digital revolution.
From education to enterprise business and every small to midsize business in between, everyone shifted to digital technology. 2020 halted a lot of business activities and so, predictors are optimistic that the future of B2B marketing trends will bring along with it some good news.
Let’s move over to some interesting B2B marketing trends to look forward to in 2021.
11 B2B Marketing Predictions to Look Out for in 2021
The Covid pandemic has significantly sped up the advanced fates of both business purchasers and business advertisers. Advertisers should adapt to computerized intelligence and virtual assistance as purchasers shift their commitment inclinations to computerized channels, as opposed to distant dealers.
1. Say Hello to Digital Selling
Our world has changed into a digital world. The rewards of digital selling in the future are huge. COVID-19 brought in a lot of changes, especially in telephonic development. Many B2B buyers now prefer digital meetings, digital conference calls, and deals.
2. Leads: How to Turn Leads into Sales
Previously, marketing was a way of exploring market audiences, however, marketing is now known as an essential business function. Converting leads into sales is the sole most important factor of a business. The future belongs to those B2B marketing departments that know how to grow pipelines along with converting leads into sales.
This is done through having well-structured and well-written content, creating a relevant customer experience, and using the right marketing automation platforms.
3. Account-Based Marketing
2020 was surely a year of distress for most B2B businesses. A lot of the organizations faced difficulties to accomplish their sales target and had to switch to Account-Based Marketing (ABM).
Switching to ABM helped companies to gain great returns on investment due to bigger deal sizes. Now, ABM has become a must-have part for B2B markets in terms of improving buying experience.
4. Improved Customer Retention
As discussed earlier, most businesses adopted ABM to expand their opportunities while doing both, maintaining loyalty with existing customers and finding new customers. One rule every B2B business sticks by are the idea of staying loyal to your existing customers while meeting the needs of the new ones.
This is what market retention is. The reason being that selling your products to existing customers is a lot easier than to a new market.
In order to achieve both hands in hand, B2B marketing trends must be set ensuring low cost per sale, a steady revenue, and continued sales. A good marketing automation process helps B2B businesses to achieve market retention.
5. Increase Awareness
Another important thing that will grow in 2021 with regard to the B2B business is awareness. The more the trust, the better will be the communication. Likewise, customers will provide personal information too. Trust is the most important aspect of a brand. This can be achieved through the following:
- What kind of communication do you have with your customers?
- How satisfied are your customers with you?
- How well aware are your customers about your brand?
6. Virtual Assistant
With the increase of COVID-19, many businesses shifted themselves to online platforms. A number of B2B technology marketers claim that vendor websites and other digital engagement platforms helped them during the quarantine period.
7. Third Party Cookies
Customers do not like third-party cookies and continuous distractions from ads. They feel their privacy is being attacked. How could third-party cookies attack protection? They permit organizations to follow each site visited, advertisers gather a ton of information about each person with the introduction of ad blockers in 2021, get ready to get rid of third-party cookies.
8. LinkedIn Communities
LinkedIn took a lot of advantage from 2020 during the quarantine period. A lot of communities and platforms grew and developed in 2020 through LinkedIn. LinkedIn helped a lot of businesses in bonding with prospects and customers from all over the world. It could be called a period of “social selling.
9. Co-Marketing
Pairing up with another business partner? Sounds like a good idea. Each business has its own loyal customers and a co-marketing partnership can help in achieving high ROIs because both businesses have their loyal customers.
A good co-marketing partnership plan will increase your reach, get you new customers, and increase your sales. Your brand awareness will also increase towards your prospects and customers.
10. Still Some Room for Physical Selling
The time where we all can return to physical meetings and business trips is not far. Hence, we need to come out of the telephonic zone and build human relations. This will not only help us get recognition but will also build a relationship of trust.
However, looking at the COVID-19 situation, the workshops and meetings might have fewer people. Fewer people mean more interaction and concentration. Get ready to be back on the physical selling platform.
11. Storytelling and Engagement
Brands should show sympathy in managing tested clients because many organizations have faced quite possibly the most testing environments lately. In order to truly comprehend your intended interest market empathically, it will require a ton of tuning in, information, and comprehension.
Be honest, be yourself. That is what people look out for; genuine stories to captivate your target market, stories that they can relate to.
Final Thoughts
We have entered a digital era. From school lessons to important meetings, digital technology has taken over our lives. Likewise, for B2B marketers, digital technology has been a blessing too.
From online meetings to gaining customer loyalty, they were able to achieve the most out of the COVID-19 situation. However, 2021 is known as the year of change especially, for B2B marketers. There are a lot of trends that technologists expect to see in 2021. From account-based marketing and digital selling to co-marketing partnerships, B2B marketers have a lot to look forward to.
Other Useful Resources:
4 Best B2B Marketing Tools CMOs Should Consider
B2B Marketing Strategies that Can Grow Your Sales
Best Data Management Platforms for B2B Marketing
