So much has changed with regard to marketing in the past two years. From purchase behaviours to technology advancements, old school business practices are no longer cutting it. Businesses can now target clients in different geographical locations and an effective marketing plan needs to be part of the mix.
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Major Changes That Have Taken Place
Some of the changes that have taken place with regards to B2B marketing are:
1. Sales representatives are no longer as crucial as they used to be
Sales representatives are now taking a back seat. Over 65% of B2B buyers would rather conduct independent research online instead of contacting sales reps. As a B2B business, you now need to realize that most of your competition for clients will be taking place on the web.
2. Millennials are making the numbers in B2B purchases
In 2014, Google reported that more than half of potential buyers who were making an online search were millennials who ended up shortlisting vendors.
That means that your content and other modes of marketing needs to be structured to be appealing to the millennial.
How to Keep Up With the Rapid Changes
If there is one thing that you should never stop doing as a marketer, it is keeping up with the latest. Get left behind and you risk losing sales to your competitors who are more in tune with what is going on.
How can you stay relevant? Here are 5 ways:
1. Hire an agency
Most of the time, as a business, it will not be possible to keep up with the latest marketing trends on your own. You may need to employ the expertise of a B2B internet marketing agency to handle your marketing so that you can focus on areas of your business in which you are most qualified.
Qualified professionals in an agency have systems in place that ensure they are using the most effective marketing strategies while also monitoring your competitors.
2. Write content that answers people’s questions
It is time to get serious about content marketing. Your content marketing strategy should not just be about filling up your blog. It should involve digging deeper to find out what people want and giving it to them
Before a customer decides to purchase a product, they go online to conduct research. Their aim is to define their problem and identify possible solutions. Having content that answers these kinds of questions for potential clients is crucial if you wish to dominate your niche.
3. Upcycle content
Content is the most important marketing strategy right now. The problem is that most businesses know that, so there are lots of excellent and interesting pieces on the web. Once a reader is done with your content, they will probably find other more interesting pieces to explore.
How do you ensure that your content generates the results that you intend for it? By upcycling it.
Upscaling means building on already published posts. You can do so by updating old posts, making them more attractive to readers, sharing and marketing them, using them in internal links, and so on.
You can also create the same posts in different channels. For example you in addition to a blog post, you can make a YouTube video for the same and an infographic. That will ensure that you cater to all types of reader preferences.
4. Do videos and other visual content
Your content marketing strategy needs to include lots of visual content. These include resources such as videos and infographics.
Video statistics prove that videos have become an important part of content marketing. For example, people are spending 100 million hours daily on Facebook watching videos. Think about what a video on Facebook would do for your business!
5. Meet millennials where they are
Facebook is by far the most popular social media channel among millennials at 90%, followed by YouTube.
How can you reach this group of people? You need to find out what takes them to these social media channels. Some of the reasons why millennials visit Facebook is to pass time by finding something interesting or exciting to read or watch. That is why videos need to be a part of your B2B marketing plan.
According to research by Aimia, 77% of millennials love to take part in loyalty programs, while 42% willing to promote your product if you will reward them. All these are excellent opportunities for you to get the money out of the pockets of this vital consumer group.
Final Words
What is your B2B marketing plan looking like right now? Is it getting you the leads you need to build a successful business?
If not, it is time to carry out an audit and discover the areas that you need to change.A marketing agency can help you audit your current plan and craft for you a winning marketing strategy.
